To Derive Meaning from the Meaningless

I have pressed on through the night
even though there seemed to be
no end in sight.
I have stayed the course
even through the tumultuous storms.
Though the nights had been bitter
and the days not much better,
I was determined to keep putting
one foot
in front of the other.

I have travelled through the dark
without the help of the stars.
I have tried to find my way through the wilderness
with nothing but my broken heart
and its faulty compass.

Though I experienced senseless violence,
I have derived meaning from the meaningless;
I have found purpose in the purposelessness.
Don't get me wrong,
I should never have gone through
all that I lived through,
but since I cannot turn back time,
I have had to find a way
to reframe the crime.

Though no one can ever pretend
that the harm that came to them
was nothing but a blessing in disguise,
there is a way to find hope within the despair
and light within the dark.
There is a way to derive meaning from the meaningless.