Remembrance

You thought you cut me down
so many times
but I kept growing anyway.
Now I stand alone
in a forest of my own design,
nourished by the tears I cried,
strengthened in my roots.

As a sapling those roots were weak
but oh were they thirsty…
I let them drink where they could,
whenever you weren’t looking:
and I grew
beyond everything I thought I’d known
beyond your garden’s fences
beyond your narrow mind

Roots strong now, content,
held deeply within the earth;
resting, reviving,
relearning how to live.

2/3/24