Emily Dana
Trauma Poems and Prayers
For years, I could not find liturgy that spoke to my experience and what I saw in the world, so I started to write my own
Prayer of the Trauma Survivor
God, grant me relief from every flashback, every sense memory, every dissociative episode
Help me to remember
The beautiful present I have
Allow me to feel when I need to feel
To escape when I need to escape
God, grant me the humility
To reach out for kindness and support
The strength to hold complicated feelings in my heart
Towards you and towards all those in my life
God, bless me with calm
Over the raging storm within my mind
Untie the bonds of culpability
Over the things I’ve lived through
God, help me along my wandering journey
As you guided my people
Through Egypt and through Shushan
Allow me stability to take each step