AMCU Community Media

**Prayer of the Survivor**

Let there be light.

Let my son's cold eyes open once more.
Let breath return to his silent chest.

Let my daughter run again,
with two strong legs beneath her,
laughing as she once did.

Raise my husband from the dust.
Place his hand in mine again.

Give me back my home,
the walls that held our memories,
the roof that sheltered our dreams.

Give me back my life,
the ordinary days I once took for granted.

But if these things cannot be,
if the dead must remain dead,
if shattered bodies cannot be made whole,
if ashes cannot become a home again—

Then let there be no more mothers who bury their children.
No more children who wake to war.
No more wives who wait for footsteps that will never return.

Let no one suffer the fate that has fallen upon me.

If my grief cannot be undone,
let it at least become the last of its kind.

Let my tears water a future
where others need not weep them.

Let there be light.
Not for me alone,
but for all who remain.

Amen.