Shravani Jadhav Poet Free verse

The Reclaimed Fortress

They built a myth around my pain
And thought I’d rust beneath the rain,
Assuming silence meant defeat,
A quiet retreat from complete retreat.
They judged the cage, but missed the key:
The shadow never mastered me.
Let them believe the fault was mine;
I am rebuilding by design.
?The asylum where they thought I’d break
Became the strength I had to take.
They could not stand an hour inside,
Yet here I stand with open eyes.
No longer begging them to stay
Or letting words dictate my day,
I pull my spirit from the dark
And reignite the missing spark.
?Let "all’s well" mean the peace I choose,
Not what I sacrificed to lose.
The potential wasn't thrown away;
It gathered power for today.
I am the anchor, sure and grounded,
Unshaken where their claims resounded.
?I leave their judgment at the door
To find the self I was before—
Not to go back to who was torn,
But to protect the one reborn.
?Healing doesn't mean pretending the hurt never happened; it means reclaiming your authority over your own narrative. You carry the strength to define your worth, regardless of who failed to see it.

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