Reclaiming My Power

I learned how to breathe in pieces. Smile while

trying to give. I learned how to fade in daylight. Disappear where I

lived. I learned how silence feels safer, how stillness passes for control.

I carried my nights so deep within, like secrets stitched in my soul.

I wore the weight, I wore the blame. I called it

strength, I called it grace. But something in me would not

stay small. I felt the crack before the fall. You tried to

break me, left me for dead. Thought I would live in what