I BECAME WHAT SURVIVED

I spent so long trying to survive the darkness… I never realized… It was changing me into something new… There were nights I thought I vanished Like smoke dissolving into rain Like every piece of who I was Would never find its shape again I carried ruins in my bloodstream Wore silence underneath my skin Built entire worlds from sorrow Just to keep myself within Every fracture left an echo Every wound became a door And somewhere in the breaking I became something more Not untouched… Not unchanged… Not who I was before… But still here… Still breathing… Still becoming… I became what survived Not the fear that pulled me under Not the grief that carved my name Into the halls of endless thunder Every shadow that tried to claim me Every night that left me scarred Only shaped the fire within me Only taught my soul its heart I became what survived… And I am not afraid of that anymore… Mwen toujou kanpe I still stand Doulè a pa fini mwen The pain did not end me Tout sa mwen viv fè mwen fò Everything I lived made me stronger Mwen toujou la I am still here The cathedral bells were calling Through the violet storm and flame Like the world I thought had buried me Was whispering my name again I saw reflections in the bayou Not a ghost and not a scar But someone walking through the darkness Still carrying her own stars There were memories in the water There were ashes in the rain But none of them could silence The pulse still moving through my veins I can feel it In my heartbeat In the way the silence changed I survived the night… But survival changed me too… I became what survived Not the sorrow left behind me Not the ruins of the past Not the voices trying to bind me Every shattered piece of porcelain Caught the dawnlight as it fell And the woman walking forward Knows herself completely well I became what survived… And the fire still lives in me… There is a difference… Between surviving something… And allowing it to define you… I carry the memory… But I do not live inside it anymore… Mwen fèt ankò nan fènwa a I was reborn within the darkness Mwen pote limyè mwen toujou I still carry my light Sa ki te kraze mwen pa genyen mwen What broke me does not own me Mwen vin sa ki siviv la I became what survived I became what survived Every storm and every silence Every moment I believed I would disappear inside it And the shadows could not bury What the dawn had already claimed Because somewhere underneath the ruins There was still a living flame Now the woman in the mirror Looks through violet eyes unafraid Not untouched by all the darkness But stronger for the path she made I became what survived… And finally… I became myself… Not broken… Not lost… Not erased… Transformed…