Today I’m going to share something with you that is very special and empowering to me.

Recently, a close childhood friend of my mom’s shared my pain and wrote a beautiful poem about finding the hope in pain and sorrow and discovering the determination to fight back. We were able to see her a few times when we were in India last year, and she always managed to fill the room with light and make us feel uplifted during our difficult times.

I am so honored that she wrote this poem to express how much she shared in our experience. Emotional support is everything.

Taken in Hawaii, 2007.

Here are her words:

Look for the Rainbow

On my mind….
I saw, felt and lived pain in the journey of this life. Pain of disease, death, cruelty and deceit. My sensitivity made me share the sufferings of all around me. At times, one wanted to question…Why? ….but with that I saw enduring strength, courage, acceptance of truth and patience. Here is an attempt to salute all those who fought loss, tragedy, and pain, rose above it to carve a path. A path on which hope walked with awakened spirits. Maybe there is something each one of us can do which is untapped. Maybe lending just a hand can bring a change.

It all began a long time ago
When
The times were young
The cheeks would glow
Like the colors of wild flowers
I wanted to grow
What was the meaning of pain?
I did not know
Those early years
If only I could tell them:
Please don’t go!

God has more powers
Than what we can foresee
When through childhood one walks
Who knows what life will be?

So
My sensitivity grew along
Sharing it all with me
The despair I faced
The pain I bore
Sharp and intense
Peeling off the skin
Everything tearing within
Days turned into yesterdays
Time continued to flee
But it stayed on
Without turning into the past tense
We grew to be one.
The pain
and me.
Disease, death, deep deceit
Ripping claws of cruelty
Wasn’t life all about
simple joy and beauty?
Clenching my fists
Holding my breath
Lifting my chest
I craved for my dawn

Smiles walked by
Hiding and shy
Waiting to open
A new unseen door
You are the chosen one
They said
Fight
Get up
Step ahead
Raise your head
Look for the rainbow
Cut through the shadows
Leave the clouds behind
Grey skies will change
The colors will gleam
Sun kissed
Fresh!
The morning
Humming a new note unsung

Life is a rose
With the prick of thorn
For a special purpose
You were born
Stinging pain
Fading with the rain
Each drop
Awakening
A new meaning
Being alive
Is a celebration

I am reaching out
For a new shore
Unexplored
Aching legs
Trembling body
Vacillating steps
Wet, silky sand
Slippery feet
I rise to glance
At a land
Uncharted
Unknown
Will to stand
Somehow grown….
Will you come forward
And give me a hand?

-Mayuri Kapadia-Mehta