Veronika McCarl Poet Free verse

I Remember the Light

I step into the light like it’s mine
Not borrowed, Not begged, 
just something I’ve earned with quiet, 
With patience, 
With the kind of stillness 
That bruises. 

The air feels different here. 
It doesn’t press against my chest. 
I move without shrinking, 
Without folding myself into someone else's comfort. 
I speak, 
and my voice doesn’t tremble. 
I breathe, 
and it doesn’t feel like a test. 
This moment
it holds me. 

Soft, 
Like maybe I belong. 
Like maybe I’m not just waiting to be sent back. 
But then it breaks. 
Not loudly, Not even suddenly. 
Just a shift, a thread pulled tight 
By hands that aren’t mine. 

And I’m back in the room with 
No windows, 
No warning, 
No reason I can name.
I don’t cry and I don’t even scream. 

I just feel it
The sting of being undone by something 
I didn’t even touch. 
The ache of being measured by 
Someone else’s fault.

I sit with the silence that used to feel like safety 
and now feels like punishment. 

I remember the light
How it felt on my skin, 
How it made me forget how small 
I’ve had to be.
~~~

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