Dylan Castle and Jimmy Flanigan – Comic Strip
Molly’s Story
She’s on the floor, face twisted
Towards her first-born, me …
My 4-year-old eyes meet hers,
Blue, pleading ‘set us free’.
She’s being choked, she’s thinking
“Please don’t let this be
My children’s last image of me”.
But it was a lasting image
It’s with me all my life.
She survived for us, played the part
Kept going as his wife.
Stayed there for her children
Tried to get us through.
And sometimes, I’m wondering
When I listen to U2 …
“You don’t have to put up a fight.
You don’t have to always be right.
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight
And it’s you when I look in the mirror…”
I wish I’d taken some punches, Molly
To take your pain away
But a 4-year-old to 11-year-old
Didn’t know what to do, just pray …
“Make it stop, please Dad, stop!”
Was all that I could say.
And the strangulations I could never bear
The blood in her nose, the blood on her hair.
It never stopped until he left
And Molly cried for days, bereft.
Because despite all his cruelty
She loved that man, endlessly …
For years I struggled, mistrust, fear
Never could let anyone near,
Yet, yearning for a helping hand.
But now I think I understand.
Sometimes you can’t make it on your own
Sometimes you need someone at home.
And Molly, my blood, it’s so much clearer
It’s you when I look in the mirror.
“You don’t have to put up a fight.
You don’t have to always be right.
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight …
And it’s you when I look in the mirror …”
Words by Sue Foster
Prayer for Aotearoa
No matter my choice of religion
Even if there’s no god I address
A prayer is a voiced inner feeling
A guide for my life, nothing less.
So I pray for peace in my country
Remembering the blood that’s been shed
Dark layers of conflict and history
All of those who are still bleeding yet.
And I pray for hope in my country
Enough to resolve all disputes
For the lost, the sad and the homeless
And all who have suffered abuse.
Let’s pray for fairness and justice
For both guilty and falsely accused
Our prisons are now overflowing
The balance of power misused.
And then pray for love and compassion
Let acceptance and tolerance grow
Let’s set aside harshness and judgement
Allowing diversity’s flow.
‘Cos no matter our choice of religion
Even if there’s no god we address
A prayer’s a voiced inner feeling
A guide for our lives, nothing less.
Words by Helen Oliver
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