Poetry

is that rain I hear? or the sound of me waiting without reaching I notice how carefully I am holding myself as if something fragile is near some days I feel steady other days I count silences and pretend I am not I do not know what this will become and that is the part that keeps me awake I move through the days anyway doing what needs doing carrying the not-knowing with me if this is rain I will not rush for shelter if this is nothing

We come with histories, with fingerprints of lives once promised, rings removed but not forgotten, echoes of words that did not hold. We know what it is to build carefully, to believe honestly, to watch something sacred loosen and fall through our hands. There was hurt. There was rejection. There were nights that asked too much of the heart. Love did not fail because it was weak. but because it was real. And still, I am here. Not closed. Not hardened. Not pretending the past

You see scars that must remain hidden – I see badges with stories to tell. You see paralysing fear – I see courage exercising caution. You see imperfections – I see character. You see weakness – I see strength. You see someone broken by what they have endured – I see someone shaped by what they survived. You see hesitation – I see discernment. You see walls – I see boundaries learned the hard way. You see damage – I see depth. You see what was taken – I see what was carried f

to speak words of what we feel; storytelling turns knowledge from inside to outside speak to what of words we feel; turns storytelling from knowledge outside to inside

The sky hangs heavy with silence and frost, The world counts the rules, and the warmth feels lost. Where safety once spoke in the language of care, Now fear wears a mask and linger in air. Each morning I wake to a colder refrain, The hum of the headlines etched into my brain. The circle of trust has narrowed and thinned, Even the sunlight now feels disciplined. I sing the forms, I nod, I comply, While something within me learns how to die. They call it protection; I call it s