Zahara

Life is strange.

When your mother was born in a Devon fishing village and you were born in Aleppo.

When a fearsome act of God takes both your parents from you and leaves you, a child of eight, with a man sworn to protect you as his own daughter. But a man without a voice, whose voice you become as he becomes your shield.

When things happen that teach you the nature of the world – its cruelty and barbarity.

And when, despite that, you still somehow manage to keep the flame of love within.

Life casts so much of beauty and horror in your path, of betrayal and friendship.

It is hard to trust anyone, even if you see in them a reflection of all you seek – kindness, honesty, true friendship, and a yearning for justice and truth.

Some walls are too high to scale.

Some doors are too heavy to open.

Some rivers are too wide to cross.

But you can still sit by them with hope, trust in the Beloved and pray that a way might be found someday…