As I look back on CSJ’s journey, it’s been encouraging when people express how they are moved by our work. In late 2013, shortly after CSJ started operations, CSJ supporter Kimberly Hocking painted a watercolor and wrote a poem that reflected the courage of one of our first cases: a gangrape of a teenage girl named Archana. The case details are less important than Archana’s courage to report the case and pursue justice in court. The watercolor and poem continue to inspire, so I share them here.
Archana’s courage
Arise my soul and fight
Sing my song of light
Arise oh courage
Teach me to stand
to sing
to say “hope”
to bring forth a new day
Arise my soul
and laugh
and cry
and learn again to fly
For you were made to be
a thing of beauty
a person of light
a winged hope
a joyous delight.
Archana’s courage
Arise my soul and fight
Sing my song of light
Arise oh courage
Teach me to stand
to sing
to say “hope”
to bring forth a new day
Arise my soul
and laugh
and cry
and learn again to fly
For you were made to be
a thing of beauty
a person of light
a winged hope
a joyous delight.