Where Love Heals

a lot has happened
since that day in April

a day that tried
to take something from me
I didn’t yet understand
how to protect

and for a while

I carried it
everywhere

like it was all
I would ever be

but slowly

life found me again

in small ways
at first

in choosing to stay
in choosing to try
in choosing to keep going
when it would have been easier
not to

I went back

to the things
I once left behind

I finished
what I thought
was lost

I walked away
from what didn’t love me
the way I deserved

and somewhere
in the quiet

I found something
I never thought
I would feel again

peace

not all at once
not every day

but enough
to keep me here

I found forgiveness

not for them
but for myself

for surviving
for breaking
for needing time

and I fell in love

with the girl
I became

the one who stayed
the one who grew
the one who learned
how to live again

and some days

I still choose her
all over again

because I did not disappear

I did not end there

I lived

JMS