Best Inner Strength Poems
2025 Poetry Marathon Mile 14 Contest
Sponsored by: Mark Toney
Contest Judged: 9/6/2025 12:49:00 PM
( 1st Place )
Written: September 04, 2025
They said the songbird
her wings twisted and torn
should quiet herself...
that the sky held no place
for the fragile or the worn.
Yet she kept a sky tucked inside her - a
place untouched by any hand.
At daylight she let her voice rise
and though her body stayed earthbound,
her song lifted past the edge of flight.
The wind slowed to listen,
branches bent nearer
and the horizon seemed to pause,
stirred by her willfulness .
Each note unlaced an old wound,
each chorus pushed against the walls
of a world that once turned her away.
Her feathers never mended,
yet her dream grew wide enough
to shelter every broken one who followed.
From her we understood:
reaching the sky
was never about wings at all.
I wanted to be free of hurt and pain.
Your cruel act left a horrible stain.
I wanted to just vanish,
I longed to be banished.
You took my self worth.
and I questioned my birth.
I was numb,
and I felt dumb.
I hated life,
I felt only strife.
Each time you touched me,
I died slowly.
You caused me to live in fear.
You robbed me of my tears.
I became a mute, I couldn't speak,
but one day silence reached it's pique.
I found my voice and I wanted to live,
and I had to somehow survive.
My inner strength rose up very bold
I told you to take your filthy hands of me,
and I felt a gentle peace take hold.
I went from a victim to a victor instantly.
Contest Name:Victim Or Victor
Date Finalized: 09-21-16
10-08-16
Contest: Take The Dagger From My Heart, Please- 2
Sponsor: Broken Wings
Excerpts from the compilation: “Prayer” 7
Inner Strength, Resilience.
I wish that each of us rediscovers their Inner Strength
And we understand that is a wild,
serene and pure treasure
That is simply forgotten - not lost.
Especially in the moments
when we need to say “no” or “enough!”
And get up, walk and attempt to set ourselves free
From all the internal and external voices
That keep us small
And try to make us believe
That we are irrelevant, inadequate and insignificant!
And also Resilience:
for the inevitable shocks and setbacks
And each time that we doubt, stumble and fall.
And that we allow ourselves to see mistakes not as failures,
But as perfect moments of great learning and understanding.
And let us practice taking time
to tend to and heal our wounds and hurts
Before we automatically turn off,
rush off to the next appointment
And mechanically, mindlessly, heartlessly
do all the things that we are told
That we are supposed to do.
© Sangeet Portals 2020
Don't let your mind lie to you
You can do anything if you try
Your mind will say you can't
But don't ever believe those lies
Secretly hidden in all of us
Is a power that can't be denied
Some will keep it suppressed
They might glance but never find
Others will find the key
They will unlock and also find
The secret power of the human heart
To be awakened and not to bind
My faith is with you my friend
I know that you can see
Find your inner strength
Now visualize what will be
i flicker
when spoken of
glow
in the breath
you shouldn’t have wasted
on apologies
ash settles like snow
on the bones of yesterday
still warm
if you press hard enough
to blister
i eat
whatever dares to name me--
anger
love
home
god
you told me
i burned too easily
but you lit the match
and called me beautiful
beneath my skin
a cinder waits
i have never ended
i have only gone quiet
for now
I hope you heal – from no apology
I hope you heal – from Un - reciprocated love
I hope you heal – from the emotional abuse
I hope you heal – from being scared
I hope you heal – from no self confidence
I hope you heal – from poverty
I hope you heal – from the pain you didn’t deserve
I hope you heal – from being scarred
I hope you heal – from being to vulnerable
I hope you heal – from loneliness
I hope you find – the courage
I hope you find – your strength
I hope you find – your selflove
I hope you find – your new beginning
I hope you find – your smile
I hope you find - your way
2025 Poetry Marathon Mile 6 Poetry Contest// Sponsored by: Mark Toney
Contest Judged: 8/13/2025 9:42:00 AM
( 7th Place )
Written: August 10, 2025
I run the miles deep within,
a subdued race, an unspoken intent,
devoid of spectators-- no finish line,
just breath and heart, both entwined.
The shades lengthen along my path
but still a soft dawn finds its way turning into gray.
Stage by stage a tale, flaw, and goal,
rushing, steady flow.
The road stretches far, but I endure—
a counterfeit concealed, strong and pure.
through storms that howl, nights that weep,
I keep the pace, I am awake.
With each mile that challenges my thoughts,
I find a surprising wellspring of strength.
not in the roar or triumphant--
but in the stillness, I transformed!
A marathoner not of feet,
but of the unflinching heartbeat,
so when the world drifts apart,
I run the internal reach.
I begin each morning eager for the day
Working for the good of mankind
Come what may
There have been many hurdles along my way
For some reason unbeknownst to me
I do not stray
This soul is strong in spite of it's emotional dismay
My spirit is my strength today
And guides my life in every way.....
As if the moon is smiling boastfully
When mist or rain and leaves are moving faster
than your eye could catch. As if trees
are curling up in pain beneath your tears, soon to be discovered -
the manes of beasts streaming as they gallop
through the fields toward you, flaming eyes that speak of evil.
As if the past were leaves and leaving and the still window
stands frail and dormant exposing a crippled soul.
As if your eyes half closed and the slit of light got brighter,
caught in liquid glass, an orchestrated prayer.
As if this blaze of white on grass were more than strength
and blue an unknown peace.
The length of the valley a sombre sea, battered and bruised by memories, fears,
revisited torture. The waves of hatred churn.
And you, a child in rough weather shouting louder and louder
as you sink beneath oppressive grasps.
Stand firm, intoxicate yourself with self acceptance.
A secret, an antidote that whispers truth - hard bread for the palate,
liquid too hot for the lips. Love.
Flowing deep within the soul is an inner strength I do not know.
Coming up during troublesome times giving me a peace of mind.
That inner peace so hard to describe, keeps flowing in this heart of mine.
It helps me to rest in my Savior’s love, knowing He’s looking from his throne above.
Inner strength buried down deep- comes to the surface when the child is weak.
Giving me answers during the storms of life, helping me daily to win each fight.
It gives reasurance that I’m not alone- giving me strength to weather each storm.
That inner strength....
Draw on inner strength
Write on heart, your own story
Indelible landscape
Inner strength
When under your wings, ill wind dwells
Stuck knee-deep in life’s expansive marsh
Bobbed about by its unending swells
Your curse it seems, is strangely harsh
Then, hope’s decaying carcass’ putrid stench
Ooze from your pores, each and every day
Your burning courage, subdued by its drench
Eroded, confidence chooses the other way
You're pressured to the brink of life’s rink
On poisoned booze for a permanent snooze
A noose, or other ways, your mind can think
You now ponder, for there’s nothing to lose
My dear friend, of this truth, I must speak
You’re much stronger than you’ll ever know
So when life is hell, to your inner self peek
And seek that strength that always lies low
Your fate you’d think may in perpetuity hatch
Dark patches, to put you through the wringer
On that inner strength, you must learn to latch
Adversity may tarry, but will never forever linger.
Feb 10, 2018
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”- Mahatma Gandhi
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Inner Strength
When clouds of despair shroud the mind
And darkness of night veils the soul
It is time one`s anchor to find
And the inner strength to enrol
To avert down a ditch to fall
Or head oneself against a wall.
As I look out over the water
So many memories wash over me
When I need some time away
Here is where I want to be
Even though I know I shouldn’t keep coming here
There's something about this place that draws me in
And I just can't stay away
I tell myself it's not the memories from back then
But then I'm left to wonder
What is it about this very place
So many memories I just can't shake
Somehow I find so much peace in this space
I've tried to find somewhere closer to home
But nowhere I ever go can compare
And even in being here
The pain from those memories I still bare
I keep coming back for one last time
But in my mind I know the truth
No matter where I run I can't escape my past
And the beauty of this place
Outweighs any pain you ever put me thru
After everything that happened between us
I never thought I'd get over you
But here and now I know
That over you I may never really be
But to live without you
Has become so much easier for me
And though I never thought it possible
I've learned to love once more
I'm so much happier than I have been in so long
It's nothing like the love I felt before
But then again how can you really compare
No two loves are ever the same
And I think that was something I had to learn
To you my words may seem so lame
But to me they are words of wisdom
Words I learn from, words I live by
In my life and in my poems every day I grow
Learning more and more
That words my mother once spoke
Are becoming more and more true
As I learn that even without you
After everything you put my heart thru
I can, I will, and I have loved again
The pain I had to bare because of you
The tears I shed
And the loves I lost
Were only stops along the way
Building me up higher and higher
Proving that within those secrets I held inside
Was a strength I was never certain I had
But one that has brought me here
Stronger than I was before
And yet not as strong as I will one day
Growing with each that passes
Knowing that with all that I've been thru
There's nothing I can't face
No pain I can't bare
And no scar on my own heart
That won't find it's own way to heal!!!!
My mom my friend my inner strength
From the day you made the choice
To bring me up with such an inner voice
That makes it possible for us to rejoice
In my ability to have such poise
With so much direction and meaning
That allows my loving affection to shine through
You are my mom my friend my inner strength
That allows me to follow my hearts voice
Giving me the strength to live my distinct life
To deal with anything that may go come my way
Every day with you in it carries me away
Remembering how you taught me how to pray
Knowing God has helped me sway the devil's play
All those things that stowaway
Covering up all my wonderful memories of my yesterdays
To my delight, my life has taken flight
Because you made my world so sunny and bright
Giving me the incite to know wrong from right
You brought me upright
You taught me how to stand up and fight
For all the things that ignite
The passion you instilled in me
My soul which reflects right back to you
My mom my friend and my inner strength
Who is always going to be my mom
That makes me happy to just be me