It rises in me
Like a creature made of light
And old hunger
A sudden violent brightness
Tearing through the dim corridors
I’ve lived in for years
The therapist speaks
A single soft sentence
But it hits the center of me
Like a hammer striking
A long sealed vault
Something inside
Shudders awake
Not gentle
Not kind
A slow‑moving giant
Unfolding its limbs
After decades of sleep
The moment widens
Not like a door
But like a crack
Splitting through stone
Letting in a light
I’m not sure
I’m ready to see
And from that fracture
A word rises
Raw
Trembling
Bright with terror
And recognition
Wow
Not wonder
Not awe
But the shock
Of realizing
I have stepped beyond
The borders of the person
I used to be
The therapist smiles
But the air shifts
As if the shadows
Have pulled back
To witness
What I’ve become
Because wow
Isn’t just a reaction
It’s a rupture
A spell breaking
A line carved
Into the earth
Between who I was
And who I refuse
To be again
I’m not going back
Not to the smallness
Not to the cold
Not to the version of me
That mistook fear
For safety
Through the crack
In my old armor
Light pours in
Thin
Trembling
But behind it
Something larger moves
Something fierce
Something mine
And it whispers
Through the trembling air
Through the trembling me
I’m not going back