Poem: Rise Again

I walked through nights that never broke,
Where every breath was smoke and ache,
A hollow self, a whispered name,
The mirror wept, too tired to blame.

My hands were chains I forged in fire,
Each promise lost in false desire.
I drank the dark, I fed the flame,
Till nothing lived but guilt and shame.

But in the dust, I found a spark—
A voice, a plea, a question mark.
“Is this the end?” No, not for me.
The soul remembers how to be.

I rose on knees, then feet unsure,
Each step a wound, but each one pure.
The light was slow, but it was true—
It grows in cracks life breaks into.

The road is long, the silence loud,
But I no longer chase the shroud.
My scars are maps, not chains, not sins—
They show me where the light begins.

So if you’re lost and breaking still,
Just know the fall does not kill will.
The climb is hard, but you are strong—
You’ve had the dark. Now write your song.

Thank-you for reading.

Much love and Light,

Brenda Marie Fluharty