My suffering became freedom
My loss became compassion
My grief became depth of being
My overwhelm became expansion
My desperation became willingness
My despair became hope
The impossible became triumph
The victim became responsible
The abdicator claimed his power and life back
The challenges met became confidence
Honesty became power
Vulnerability became candid revelation
And the door to freedom
Shame became forgiveness
Guilt became re-decision
“Mistakes, mis-steps, wrong turns down the highway of life”
At a price so high
Became discernment
The folly of youth survived, integrated, re-directed
Became the wise elder
With a life time of experience to share
(Vernon Gosney left Jonestown with Congressman Leo Ryan on November 18, 1978, and was seriously wounded during the shootings at the Port Kaituma airstrip. His other poem in this edition of the jonestown report is Beings of Light; his remembrance of Monica Bagby is here. His previous writings are located here.)