Catkins in the Wind

I was nothing to you.
You were an addict, and I was your drug of choice.
Something for you to take when you needed a fix.
Something to be abused,
To be used up and left in the dirt,
Empty.
-
So I filled myself up
With Shame,
And Disgust
And Pain
And Fear
You didn't have to hide any evidence
Because I buried myself for you.
-
But I won't lie
Here
Anymore.
-
I am tearing up the earth around me,
Clawing through clay and splitting boulders in my path
Forcing the world to make room for me.
-
I'm taking what was left to rot
And rebuilding myself with breath, and water, and light
And filling these bones with life.
-
I am so much more than what you took from me.
-
I am strong,
And I am good,
And I am loved
-
I can speak
And I can fight
And I can endure
-
I am not the sum of what I have to sacrifice,
I am not polluted by your poison,
I am not too broken to ever be whole again
I am not yours
-
I am Mine
I am Mine
I am Mine
-
And I always was
And I always will be
And even though you carved your name into my flesh,
I am healing-
Growing so tall, so far out of your reach,
You will never touch me again.
And someday, you will be nothing but a scar
-
Someday you will be nothing
-
And I will be a forest.

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