BROKEN

Melanie's son's high school classmate was in a horrible traffic accident the day after he turned 18 (January 2005) and was in a coma for months before awakening to a new, impaired life. The young man has a beautiful, positive, grateful spirit, but Melanie often thinks how painful it must be for his parents to see him as he is now every day and recall what he was and imagine what he might have been had he not stepped into the street without looking on his way home from a soccer match on that fateful night. Melanie imagines how she would feel if it had been her son rather than theirs who had suffered the disability.

She wrote the following poem entitled "Broken" after the young man woke up from his coma.

Broken written by Melanie

I didn't yet know you
That Monday this past January
When you turned eighteen.
I first heard your name
On Tuesday night
When you were already
Broken.


They say it wasn't the driver's fault.
I'm glad for him.
How could he go through life
Plagued by the guilt
Of having been the reason
For your being
Broken?


If only you hadn't been
On the soccer team...
If only you'd gotten
A ride home that night...
If only it hadn't been
Raining so terribly hard...
But it was,
And so you were
Broken.


I began praying for you
That very night.
With tears
And with all my heart
I begged our God
To restore you
To the way you were
Before you were
Broken.


I finally met you
Two months later.
You lay, perhaps asleep,
Your father at your side,
In hospital number three
Since the night you were
Broken.


Little by little,
In steps tinier than a baby's,
Your condition has improved.
Sometimes I left your room
In tearful discouragement,
And sometimes
In exuberant rejoicing.
Each time, though,
You remained behind, still
Broken.


Your body hasn't yet
Regained its former strength and skill.
Your mind hasn't yet
Regained all its clarity.
Yet throughout
This long, hard journey,
The faith and hope
Of those who love you-
And your own spirit-
Haven't been
And cannot be
Broken.

Life is precious - Treasure it!