From the Ashes (Original Poem)

Barefoot, I have danced

through the mangled ruins of promises,

Collecting light in the folds of my skirt when love forgot to stay.

I am made of thunder and fire,

Of long nights that I did not let break me,

Of empty hands that continue still to paint. To hope.

I carry stories in my marrow,

lifetimes of loss and return,

of kissing silence like a friend,

of holding children who were never mine -

watching them dissipate into the either.

I burn, I burn, I burn.

The wheel of life turns.

To the ashes once more.

Smoldering,

I rise

smoky and gold,

from the weight of goodbyes,

and the echo of songs never finished.

Witness the flicker in the darkness.

Remember truth.

Rise from the ashes.