Book Burner

 

Tempted to just walk away.

Turn a page,

or burn it altogether.

All in my father’s name.

Where I learned

that shame could fuel anger.

When did I get so afraid

of everything that resembles danger?

Violence wired in me

always searching for an outlet.

Then I stop

and turn,

and I

face you.

Never my enemy.

Only exposing my vulnerability.

Everything aside,

it’s my weakness that I hide.

Stack it up

and I curl up behind

these crumbling walls

of my life.

Then a light dawns

in my eyes.

I have been wrong

this whole time.

Instead of setting my whole life

on fire,

I might

embrace you

and start to heal my mind,

my heart, and my soul.

Control was always in me.

Turn the page.

Grip the pen.

This is a new beginning.

I have fallen

and been wounded

in the early chapters.

now, I write

a whole life

of what happens after.

And the light

from this new fire

consumes my anger.

Burning bright

and I create a way

into the future.

I don’t have to hate.

Don’t have to be destroyed.

Choice only becomes fate

when we seek to avoid

all the beautiful things

that could fill up the void.

Why should I choose pain

when I could choose joy?

 

 

DJR – 2023

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