Battling Shadows Poem by April Humason

My mind, a prison built of doubt,
Where light feels far and hope runs out.
A shadowed heart, a quiet ache,
A fragile smile I try to fake.

I stumble searching for the light,
While darkness lingers close to sight.
Each heavy thought, a restless sea,
Storms that rise inside of me.

I hide behind what isn't true,
A painted smile, a masked-off hue.
Afraid to show the war within,
The wounds I fight beneath my skin.

Sometimes heaven feels far away,
Like distant stars that barely stay.
But still a flicker lives inside,
A breathing hope I cannot hide.

With every breath, I choose to stand,
Though shaking legs and trembling hands.
I walk the road, though steep and long,
Learning where I still belong.

I face the shadows, not to bow,
But to find the breaking dawn somehow.
No longer lost inside the night,
I move, step by step, toward the light.

Though battles rise and storms may roar,
I feel His whisper: "There is more."
And in the dark, I learn to see
The light was never far from me.