One Day

One day we’ll look back at this time that was hard,
And whilst we’ll be tired and battered and scarred,
We’ll be alive, and the scars will have healed,
And the fact we survived will protect us: a shield.

For once you have fought, and once you have won,
The battle has started, a lifetime begun.
The winning’s not easy, recovery is hard,
But it’s worth it to live life you once thought to discard.

And so we’ll walk on, heads held high, looking back,
Noting how far we’ve come and that we’re on track.
We may falter or pause but we’ll walk on each day,
Living the future for which we once prayed.

That day, it will come, but the present comes first.
It’s hard and it hurts: the first step is the worst.

—
daily poem #913