I'll Remember

You forget
to breathe out the air in your lungs,
you hold it within yourself like
you want the world to stop,
maybe only for a moment, or
maybe for an entire lifetime.
You forget
to exhale the old, toxic waste
poisoning your beautiful soul,
to inhale the new beginnings
that surround you, the beauty,
fresh and cool, you forget
to see the reasons you need
to truly be alive, or maybe,
just maybe,
you’ve lost your sight
for a moment.
You forget
that it’s only for a moment
that you’re lost in this darkness,
you forget that while nothing,
not a god damn thing, is right
with you, your life, this world,
that you can make it right.
You forget
that you are strong
so you tell yourself you can’t,
you can’t do this anymore,
you can’t fight this anymore,
you can’t survive this
because you are tired,
god you are so tired,
you are obsessed with the pain,
you don’t stop it from draining
all of the strength you have left,
and you deserve better,
you deserve better.
You forget
that you can survive this,
you can stand where others have fallen
and though no one might understand,
you can fight battles so dark and bloody,
you have fought battles that many
before you have fallen and died in,
and you are still here,
still alive,
and you can do it again,
you can stand strong.

Maybe tired,
maybe injured,
maybe covered in scars,
or with a body, mind and soul
altered for a lifetime,
but you can do this,
you can stand strong.

You forget,
to breathe out and tell yourself
that you’re worth fighting for,
that you’re beautiful,
that you can save yourself
and you will save yourself.

So to myself,
beautiful scarred dancer
with broken wings,
you are worth so much more
than what you see,
and what you believe.
I remember,
I remember that you
truly do have a life worth living,
and though my voice may be quiet
to the war that’s going on
in the darkest hours of the night,
I will remind you
of the joy you deserve
when you feel like it’s not meant
to be yours,
but it is,
it is,
you are meant for more.