After

you led me
somewhere I didn’t recognize

a place that felt
endless
and empty

and for a while

I thought
I might disappear there

because something in me
did change

something quiet
something I can’t fully name

like there was a version of me
that didn’t make it through

and I had to learn
how to live
without her

but what you didn’t know

is that I have always
known how to survive

long before you
long before that moment

it lives in me
like something steady
something unshaken

and slowly

through the fear
through the silence
through the pieces

I found my way back

not to who I was

but to someone new

someone softer
and stronger
at the same time

and somehow

in everything
that tried to undo me

I found

peace
love
and something that feels
like home

JMS