What If This Had Never Happened
What if this had never happened—
If the night had passed me by,
If no cruel hands had taught my heart
The language of a cry?
If childhood kept its sacred hue
And fear had stayed unknown,
If I had grown in gentler soil
And not in fields of stone?
What if the dark had missed my door,
What if the lock had held,
What if my body learned only joy
And not the hell it felt?
I might have trusted as the birds
That sleep in open air,
I might have moved through human arms
And never learned despair.
Now every kindness startles me,
Now every touch is loud,
Now love must move with careful feet
And speak in tones unbowed.
The past lies coiled within my chest
Like thunder in the bone,
It follows me through crowded rooms
Where I still stand alone.
What if this had never happened—
Would I be less afraid?
Would mirrors show a truer self
Not warily displayed?
Would sleep come down like quiet rain
Instead of sheets of flame,
And would my heartbeat speak in peace
Instead of spells of shame?
Yet even in this wounded dark
A fragile truth remains:
The soul still lifts its broken wing
And flies against the pain.
Though all was torn and overthrown,
Though light was dearly bought,
The heart still asks, in broken rhyme,
The mercy it was not.
What if this had never happened—
The question has no end,
It circles like a tired star
That cannot yet descend.
But still I walk this scarred-lit road
With breath that will not cease,
And gather shards of what was lost
To build the shape of peace.
Post Comments
Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.
Please
Login
to post a comment
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a
Premium Membership.
