Jagged Edges

With any storm comes carnage, darkness and despair Some of its imagined, but the rest of it’s right there. As the fury ran its course, I’ve clung to what I know It’s in these tests and trials where true colors often show as the storm surge rolls away, and the darkness breaks to day Fragments of that hurricane inside me they have stayed I struggle to read the weather, I’m constantly unsure Is this going to blow over, or a sign of something more. Things that used to bounce and just roll right off right my back, Now they trigger a deep defense, as I perceive the next attack The cards in life are loaded, sometimes I feel they’re stacked all I’ve ever wanted, was to throw this on the rack I refused to run from darkness, I didn’t hide from the storm I held my ground and fought harder, refused to be the norm Some have found this threatening, as if I’m out to prove That somehow, I’m the best and the rest around me lose. The truth’s a little different, I know what I’ve become I’ve led by my example, to be the hardest working one For the time the dark enveloped me, it created a small home So, when I’m in its presence, its identity is known I sense it as it passes, in others and on its own Like I’ve been given a map, and its strong holds are known. I see it in the open, I see it beating in your chest So fling me to the pack of wolves, I’m no longer like the rest I’ve channeled this uncertainty; I’ve used it while I hunt It’s fueled my drive for better, though some I know I’ve cut My edges may be jagged, from the parts you’ve chipped away But here I stand still filing, I’ll be smooth again someday