Details |
Lilita Wali Poem
I am standing still
while my fears sprint forward
marathon runners in a race I never
entered.
Everyone else-moving, growing,
leaving
and I am the statue in the middle of the
road
cars honking, the world swerving
around me.
My surroundings have teeth.
They chew on my silence.
Crowds press into my skin
until I can`t find my own bones
anymore.
Who is this in the mirror?
I wore her face once. Now it`s
borrowed.
I am tired.
Tired of pouring from an empty cup
into hands that never learned to hold
me.
Tired of being the umbrella in
everyone's storm
while I drown in my own rain.
So this year, I am selfish.
Call it what you want-
I call it survival.
I will not be the bridge for feet that forget me.
I will not be the candle that dies to light
your room.
I am learning to defend this body, this
mind.
No, I don`t need your army.
I don`t need friends and family who only notice
me now
when I've finally stopped waving.
How did I spend a lifetime
memorizing everyone else`s needs
and forget the language of my own name?
Today I take it back.
Letter by letter.
Breath by breath.
This time, I choose me -
the way it was supposed to be
before the world taught me to
apologize for existing.
I am not going nowhere.
I am going inward.
And that, finally,
is a journey worth taking.
-The Year of Me
-By Lilita Wali
Copyright © Lilita Wali | Year Posted 2026
|
Details |
Lilita Wali Poem
Bare minimum?
Yes, I somehow learned to settle for it.
But woe to the debt of sorries I owe to myself.
Woe to the promises I tore up with my own hands.
What a love, so full of sorrow and despair!
Oh, what am I still doing
in a house once filled with love,
now empty?
The love has gone,
but resentment has moved in.
-LilitaWaliWrites??
Copyright © Lilita Wali | Year Posted 2026
|