Change your stars, said the film, so I’m taking the hint,
Heading west with a lion for many Build-A-Bear stints.
A professor, it says, but I’m wondering what for;
Not less than the title, just hoping for more.
Giving voice to the ones who can’t safely use theirs:
Every colleague we’ve lost, who deserved better care;
Many breaking, some broken, who keep turning up;
Yet to come, the new starters, not yet passed that cup.
Searching out how the mind holds the things that we see,
To help others stay whole (and, between us, help me).
All the way through the system, from cop to the court,
Reaching labs, juries, policy: the long and the short.
Sharing practice that works, passing round every spark,
Till we’re all a bit further away from the dark.
Out of casework, I’ve barely been round the block,
So this marathon starts blind, in odd socks.
Petrified? Yes. But I’m building me, bone by bone,
And giving back more than I’d manage alone.
Rounds of goodbyes: some were glorious things;
Knowing some never happened (and they’ll cope) somehow stings.
Lots of you I’m missing already, it’s true;
I won’t see some again, and I’ll carry you too.
Now I’ll come home different, sharing all that I’ve found,
Glitter and grit: I’ll keep sparkling till things turn around.
