Tag: Hope

Slay

These poems are a journey 
That began in the light of hope and love
Then slowly meandered through increasing darkness 
They dare to expose the skeletons and demons 
Barely hidden behind my front door for too long
The narration begins in the middle 
After darkness had well fallen
And documents my struggle to breathe
My desperate journey to find myself again 

And for those who live with horrors who wear human faces
If I found my way free
I know you can too
Let these poems serve as proof 
That though it is not easy
Freedom can be won
You can take your life back 
Write the story exactly as YOU wish it to be

Sometimes the dragon burns down the world 
As long as you’re standing 
No matter how wounded
You can slay that dragon
You ARE the hero of your story
YOU get to say when the story is over
YOU get to decide how the new book starts
YOU get to do whatever the hell YOU want
Take my story and forge it into your sword of courage 
SLAY

-gws

When Hope Has Left Us

Oh, how the tears fall
In the darkest of night
When hope has left us
With the dying of the light

The grief and the shame
Consume all they might
When hope has left us
With the dying of the light

Hold on to my hand
Grasp on to it tight
When hope has left us
With the dying of the light

It is anguish that grips us
With its devastating blight
When hope has left us
With the dying of the light

Remember, when dawn comes
How we survived this rite
When hope had left us
With the dying of the light

-gws

Grief Is An Unwelcome Friend

Grief is an unwelcome friend
Yet she calls just the same
She sits down right beside me
As she gently speaks my name

She offers me her open hand
Even though I flinch away
Grief’s lived this scene so many times
She knows that she must stay

I beg and plead for her to go
I do not want her here
Yet Grief still sits right by my side
And whispers in my ear

She tells the story of love and loss
Of memories most dear
Until I finally understand
Why Grief is sitting here

Grief comes when something dear is lost
With a simple job to do
Her company is but the cost
Of loving something true

So turn her not away, good friends
Though welcome she’ll not be
Grief reminds us how we’ve loved
With the gift of memories

-gws

The Dark Side of Hope

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com
Hope is a fickle thing
Often false
Illusory
A mirage
A baseless promise

Hope motivates us forward
Baiting us with potential
Failing to prepare us for the broken heart
Inevitable after it evaporates

Hope is the rainbow that can never be caught
The dream that refuses to be remembered after waking
The gilded lie we tell ourselves to survive hell
The ten more seconds or minutes or days or years
We clutch with white knuckles and held breaths

Hope is binary
For all it inspires
It is equally devastating
Its dark face too ugly to acknowledge
Its broken legacies left to nightmares and Grimm tales

-gws

Tell Your Story

Tell your story
Detail your plot twists
Describe how you penned your own ending
How you dreamt your next prolific chapter
You are proof that dragons can be slain
Villains can be outwitted
That the condemned can become the hero
Be the light that illuminates someone else’s
Pages through your inspiration
Show that soul their narrative can be altered
Show that soul their misery can become triumph
Because you have told them it can be done
Because you have shown them it was done

-gws