Burn the dross with
steady heat.
Constant regulation
under furnace's feet.
Not too hot,
not too cold.
Steadily discover
the Goldilocks zone.

There's a blackening,
then the white-
before red comes
into play.
And there we find
the malleability
we seek for
every day.

At nineteen, I became a mother,
a title that shook the stars—
barely an adult, but now a world-builder,
my dreams reshaped by tiny hands.

Earth comes out of its greenroom

I bend at the window
looking through the glass
down upon its vastness

something out there is wrong

the future's not what it used to be
a shadow tells me

I feel mysterious today
a stranger to myself
I don't recognize my voice

objects outlive us
but we are more than an accident of stars
someday we will be infinite
breaking into the distance

by serene velocity
by delicate transitions

bringing us closer
to a renewed interest in happiness

butterflies flutter -
reach for the nectar of life;
winds change direction.

If you'd have asked me how
I wouldn't have been able to tell you
But He touched me
The energy I used trying to prove a point
I redirected it to seeking Him
I surrender.

I couldn't keep going back to
He leaves the 99 for the 1
I needed to see draw near to me as I draw near to you

Yes He touched me
Soaking my face towel in
Regrets and repentance
I felt a warm embrace

Every year I crossover
It humbles me coz who I'm I
That He favors me this way
Filled with gratitude on my knees
For He didn't allow the suicide to go through
Didn't hold my past against me
And everyday renewing His mercies
What a privilege!

So in the deep...
I'll trade my fear for trust
Guilt and shame for gratitude
Regret and reproach for thanksgiving

I said once make sure when you look back you can do it with a smile
But I'm also allowing you to look
Back with a cry coz you've made it through.

The mountains before you are now so far behind you.
The darkness that was palpable now gone to be forgotten
Coz light don't negotiate with the dark.
Finally you can breathe out and breathe in fresh air.

Pull your head out the water.
You're safe.
We're here now!

The words burst forth like a broken dam,
Overwhelming, overflowing, unstoppable, they amass.
For so long they were restrained,
Restricted, constricted, told to remain.
But now they flow, unbound, unchained,
And I am at the mercy of their reign.

The power of feelings, the weight of their might,
Caught in the undertow, pulled into the fight.
Drowning, yet somehow I can finally breathe,
As if the words have stitched a wound beneath.
I feel more like me, freer than before,
The world sharper, clearer, an open door.

Hope glimmers softly, like dawn’s gentle light,
Breaking through the end of a long, gloomy night.