How many different ways can I describe this blood on the floor? How many different pictures can I paint of you with your back turned? How many solutions can I hold in my palms and how many times can I watch them slip through my fingers?
I once thought the answer ‘infinite’. No more. Ten times. Thirty. A hundred. But slowly, the urge to capture my pain is giving way and making room for the need to write about how much bravery it took to put myself back together. About how high the cliff around rock bottom was and how, eventually, I climbed it anyway.
Now I am measuring the cuts on my hands, noting the colour of my bruises and admiring them for what they are. Proof that I survived.
I once charted a map of the devastation you caused, now I am outlining a mountain range that looks suspiciously similar to my newfound heartbeat.
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For more poems like this, check out the ones below:
About the Creator
Poppy
poetry in progress
Reader insights
Outstanding
Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!
Top insight
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
Standing While Falling
Quotation from Friedrich Nietzsche "He who wrestles long with monsters should beware lest he himself become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. Man is not destroyed by suffering, but by the meaning he makes of it."
By LUCCIAN LAYTH5 days ago in Critique
Comments (15)
Well deserved placing on the Leaderboard ✅.
Yes! I celebrate this!
Poppy... I love love love love this!!! Like the shift in perspective is everything to me!! As we walk through the journey with narrator on them starting to forgive themselves and learning to take back their power from the hurt they felt. They realized they'd rather be proud of how far thrive come instead putting the energy into whistle blowing the person that hurt them!! Such maturity and an elegant perspective!!
Whew! That last stanza was positively stellar! A hopeful note after heartache
"Now I am measuring the cuts on my hands, noting the colour of my bruises and admiring them for what they are. Proof that I survived." Now, THAT is transformation! Wonderful poem, Poppy!
Powerful writing, Poppy! 🤩 The struggle for the narrator is real, and so too is the strength, grit, and tenacity to overcome. And overcoming adversity is as difficult as it is rewarding. The journey itself eventually becomes beautiful.
So freaking good Poppy
Excellent poem with a hopeful conclusion. Like Dharrsheena, I really like the final sentence.
Poppy, you did it amazingly. Well done.
What a wonderfully optimistic poem so creatively written. What makes your poem so effective is that it is straightforward while using symbolism which adds an extra layer of depth to really drive the point home. Excellent work, Poppy!
ayayay beautifully written - hard and uncompromising in its honesty, but like Kayleigh said...it's like a story of strength and getting through it like the title and subtitle infer! :)
Beautiful, Poppy!!!
Ooooo, that last line was extremely powerful and my favourite! Sending you lots of love and hugs ❤️
I love the message of strength and grit in this… it’s like you have draped it under a veil of darkness…but it’s so strong that it’s shining through… which reflects the subject of the poem exactly… 👌👌👌🌟
This could be devasting and i hope its not for real for you , but I know it is for many