After an Almost-Ending

Spring feels like salvation now

And every breath is a luxury

The urge to laugh creeps up on me

Like the darkness once did

❀

I smile as much as

I once wept

I feel the sun on my face

More than I once felt the tears

❀

I climbed the mountain

Reached the clouds

Touched the stars

❀

I forgave my reflection

And learnt to love her

❀

I changed the bandages

And found the wounds

No longer bleeding

Found the scars had faded

❀

The memories are just

Trinkets under my bed

What once was storms

Is now green grass

I sanded back the anger

Wrapped it in tissue paper

And placed it somewhere

I would never touch it again

❀

I am dancing in the sky

Inhaling peace and

Digesting joy

❀

And none of it would have happened

If I’d pulled that trigger

In 2017

Or jumped off that cliff

In 2019

Or hung that rope

In 2023

❀

I am basking in happiness

And it would never have happened

If I gave up on myself

All those times I wanted to