Rise Poem by Anna Montgomery

On the peaks of the dawning day
I open my eyes
I will no longer cry
For I have survived
I may not be steel
But I am strong
I will stand and shake off my burdens
I am Here
I will always be here
I will uncurl
Soft like the baby petals of a flower blossoming
I will rise
I will survive
My sorrow has washed away
I am stronger today
than I was yesterday
Change has been whirling through my brain
Curving smoothing me from within
Like the carved walls turned smooth by running water
I am standing
I am on my feet
I am not who I was
I still have someone to become
I will rise
You can laugh at me
say I've gone crazy
But I can feel it inside of me
I can feel it growing
I am Rising
I am not drowning
I am breathing
Hands that choked me
strangled who I am
They have been straining
pulling as a dog does with his leash
Trying to control who I was
Trying to control who I am becoming
But they cannot choke me anymore
Their hands are merely shadows
Flung away with a bit of light
They can hide somewhere else
I am no longer just Me
I am somebody
I am a person who needs to be loved too
I am me and I am her.
I will rise
I am no longer falling
I am standing
I may be bruised and sore
But I am not broken
I have forgiven myself
Now I can break free of what restrained me
I can breathe
I am not drowning
I belong here
I am loved
Let us rise
Let us show them they can't hurt us
Let us forgive our faults
Let us love
Let us heal what was broken
Let us heal what is still bleeding
Let us find the hope we need to live on
Let us find our Rise.
Let us forgive
Let me forgive...
because I am not broken
Because I am not lost
I am found.