Breathing Anyway

The breath

She once wished the world would end her not with mercy but with pain sharp enough to erase every other.

She had carried too much for too long. Her body remembered storms her voice never named.

Image by Author.

And yet she stayed.

Not because she was fearless but because even in breaking she still cared.

Maybe too much maybe just enough.

Enough to wait for the smallest dawn to touch her trembling hands and remind her she is still here.

• Nikitha S.G.