A Grieving

When I was working with troubled teens at a local art high school eight years ago, I had a profound grieving episode towards the end of the school year. I had heard the students stories for months and had contemplated their lives with compassion. I was not a trained therapist I was just a receptive artist in the community hired to help. Then one night I woke up and sat up in bed. I had coughing sobs that came from the deepest place, in my abdomen. The image that came to me was was of a snake being uncoiled from my gut. It was a waterfall of emotion which was terrifying but I trusted it. I was finally grieving my teenage traumas along with those of the students. I'll never forget it. It was healing.