Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
I am my best friend.
I will never trust another over me again.
After the long nights
and early mornings
and long trials of back-and-forth-ing,
I have studied myself and can promise one thing:
I know me more than you do.

So if you ever begin to think
I am missing something big
come and slip a note to me -
criticism is welcome, but I will choose what I take and leave.

I have my back
I hold the line
I trust my truth and have a spine
I'll defend my reputation against those friends
who weren't friends at all, in the end.

I'd rather be "alone" than have to pretend.
I'd rather be my own best friend.
I forgive like rain,
soft and steady, washing wounds clean
even when they were carved into me.
I pour grace like water into cups
that never once filled mine.

I am the open door,
the light in others’ storms,
the hands that hold,
the voice that soothes
and yet no one stays
to check if I’m still breathing
after the healing is done.

Heaven-sent, they say,
but even angels fall silent
when no one listens to their cries.

I gave pieces of myself
to build bridges, mend hearts,
carry burdens too heavy
for broken backs to hold.
But who sees me?
Who carries me?

I am not weak
no, I’m made of grief and grit,
a woman stitched from suffering
and stubborn hope.
But I am tired.
Tired of being the strong one
in rooms full of silence
when I need saving too.

No one could walk
the warpath I’ve walked
and still offer love with open palms.
No one could break this much
and still want to make others whole.

And that’s the tragedy.
That’s the ache.
Not that I can’t forgive them,
but that I forgot how to choose me.
So please,
leave me alone.
This book
my book
is over for you.
You had your chapters.
You played your part.
You saw the mess,
you tasted the light,
but none of you stayed
to see the rebuild.

You had your chance
to love me right,
to pour into me
like I did for you.
But you took and you took
and I still stood.
I still gave.

Now I’m done
repeating cycles
just so others can stay comfortable
while I suffer in silence.

This isn't bitterness.
It’s peace.
It’s boundaries.
It’s me choosing me
for once.

And I don’t wish you pain.
I don’t wish you harm.
I just hope that, one day,
when you’re sitting in your stillness,
you’ll remember the woman
who loved you deeply
even when she was drowning.

And I pray
honestly
that I gave you enough hope
to one day look up
and ask Him,
“Did she end up okay?”

And He’ll say:
"She did. Without you."
Here's the limit
Stopping short such careless ease
It reaches in and grips and I
just hope that I don't leave
it all exposed, the brick & mortar
to the humidifying heat
I know to take it out on you is petty,
childish, and mean
And I am so mature, I'm quiet
as the words begin to freeze
The screaming, small injustices
that bitterness loves to keep
Tonight in bed, a mantra
Is the devil on repeat
Running laps inside my head
Until I can finally sleep
Then tomorrow I'll forgive you
My walls crumbling like leaves
A day of autumn in the summer
For another day of peace
My neurodivergent mind is overwhelmed with pressure, struggling under the weight of the sea.
Yet, amidst the chaos, God reaches down to pull me from the depths and set my spirit free.

-Rhia Clay
 4d Malcolm
lizie
when i was little, my dad told me
“fortune favors the bold,”
but i thought, for the longest time,
he was saying
“fortune favors the bowl,”
and honestly?
that made more sense to me.
because i’ve never been bold,
but i’ve always been empty.

i learned the right phrase eventually,
but i didn’t do anything with it.
it sat there,
just another thing i wasn’t brave enough to believe in.

i let things happen.
i kept quiet when i should’ve screamed.
i stayed when i should’ve left.
i left when i should’ve stayed.
i waited for signs that never came.

now i hear that phrase and it feels like a joke,
like a door that only opens for people who push it hard enough.
and maybe i could’ve been one of them,
if i wasn’t so scared of being too much,
or not enough.

fortune favors the bold.
and i’ve never been bold.
Next page