Unshaken

I was built

By the wreckage of what broke me.

In love,

In loss,

In the quiet undoing of life.

Grief carved wisdom into my bones.

Betrayal lit a fire I thought I’d lost.

Every slammed door

Became an opening,

Not outwards, but in.

I never wandered

From the road I walked,

A warrior,

Not for glory,

But for those I hold close.

Time tempered my core.

Every fall

A foundation.

Every scar

A story I carry,

Not with shame,

But with pride.

Now I stand,

Not untouched by pain,

But shaped by it.

Taller,

Bolder,

And finally,

Unapologetically,

Me.