~I Am Still Here~

In order to move forward we must cut the chain that binds us and let the ball roll away...

I could claim victories over circumstances that did not seal my fate.

I could brag about the obstacles I overcame from violence and hate.

I can boast about strategies and tactics I learned along the way

yet, that was apart of the world I was forced to engage.

I can give myself a title, true soldier or warrior queen, but does that erase the scars of my reality or give me back the years of shattered simplicity?

No! I live with it everyday, my heart is swollen from its gravity, do I want to forget? hell yes! I don't ever want to remember that mess

yet, it is one of the commodities deeply seeded within me, the joy, the pain, the laughter, the stain, the symphony bordered on arrogance and shame.

All the segregated portions of me, dancing and leaping in captivity, formulating wholes that bleed through my soul, yesterdays catastrophies are todays ambiguity, and tomorrows nobility,

thrust within the very depth and whole of me yet, my spirit is sharpened, engraved, free and clear, I am still here.

(©)copyright:KarenRussell