When The World Shifts Poem by Vanessa Dizon Alvarez

The ground beneath me bends and breaks,
the past dissolves, the present shakes.
A mourning hum, a shadowed song,
for all the places I belonged.

Between two worlds I stand alone,
one safe, familiar, carved in stone,
the other vast, uncertain skies,
where every ending births surprise.

It's right to grieve, to ache, to yearn,
to watch old fires fade and burn.
Yet in the ashes, seeds take root,
new voices rise, new truths recruit.

Change is a blade, but also a key,
unlocking parts unknown to me.
Through pain, through loss, through shifting air,
I find new strength already there.