Today I Walk Into The Fire Of Myself

Today doesn’t arrive gently

It crashes into meLike a truth I’ve been avoiding

Sharp

Bright

Impossible to swallow

The air tastes electric

As if the world is holding its breath

Waiting to see

Whether I’ll rise

Or break

I feel everything at once

The old ache behind my ribs

The quiet hope I pretend not to want

The grief that keeps rewriting its name

On the inside of my chest

I tell myself

Stand still

Don’t run

Let the feeling burn through you

Instead of around you

So I open the door to the morning

With trembling hands

Letting the light hit the parts of me

I’ve kept in the dark too long

It hurts

God it hurts

But there’s something holy

In the way pain makes room

For whatever comes next

If hope returns

It won’t be soft

It will be fierce

Like a heartbeat refusing to quit

Like a promise I thought I’d lost

Finding its way back to me

And if it doesn’tI’ll still be here

Standing in the raw brightness of today

Unarmored

Unhidden

Alive enough to feel

Every last spark