Beaten
Vulnerable
I rose, vowing not to be struck again
Opting for the only defense remaining
Offense
Unsettled
Uncertain
Movement fractured
Undeterred
Unrelenting
Moving forward
Lost
On a forkless path
Stop
Look for a door
A ladder, a rope
Turn
Seek another path
Upon retraced steps
Wait
For alternatives
To appear
Move
Follow the instinct
Which began this path
Despair
There is no despair
Only tenacity
Some mad portal
Always seems to appear
And I find my way
My failures seem always
To be failures of perseverance
When I turn away from the path
Scars
Pockmarks
Weathering
Textures of
Distress
Hardship
Healing
They rush onto the long
Shallow slope of sand
Which gradually saps their strength
Reduces their presence
Until they peter out before me
Weakened to ripples
Barely able to disturb the sand
There was to her
A tenacious spirit
She grappled despair
And brought it down
Smothering the darkness
Not so much with light
But with a glimmer
I thought it was hope
But it was trust
Not just the kind
Given to others
But the kind given to self
Given to circumstances
Given to time, and possibility
