Survivor Poem –

Look at Me Now!

 

Once,
you taught me
to look at the floor.
To count the tiles,
the cracks,
anything but my own reflection.

You said I was nothing
without you.
You said no one would believe me.
You said I was too weak
to live on my own.

Look at me now.

I unlock my own front door
with keys that only fit my life.
There is music in my kitchen
that I chose.
My laughter lives here
and does not apologise.

I have friends
who know the whole story
and still stay.
I have quiet mornings
where nobody shouts my name.
I have a future
that does not shrink
to fit your temper.

Look at me now.

I speak in my own voice.
I rest without asking permission.
I trust my instincts
and my dreams.

You tried to erase me,
but all you did
was give me pages
I now write on.

I am not your secret,
not your shadow,
not your possession.

I am proof
that leaving is possible,
healing is real,
and hope can grow
in the cracks of the hardest nights.

If you are where I was,
hear this:

One day,
you will stand in your own light
and whisper to your past,
as I do now—

Look at me.
Look at me now.

By Naz