THE NIGHT COULD NOT KEEP HER

The night wrapped itself around me… Like it thought I belonged to it… But even darkness… Can lose its hold… There were shadows in the cathedral There were storms beneath my skin Every silence felt eternal Every room pulled me back in I remember drowning slowly In the weight I used to wear Like the night became a language Spoken softly everywhere I gave sorrow all my breathing I let grief become my name Until somewhere in the distance I heard the dawn call through the rain Not loud… Not violent… Just stronger than despair… Like light returning quietly To places left abandoned… The night could not keep her Could not hold her in its hands Could not bury all the fire Still burning underneath the pain Every shadow lost its power Every chain became undone And the woman born from silence Walked beyond what she’d become The night could not keep her… No matter how it tried… Nwit la pa t kapab kenbe mwen The night could not hold me Mwen toujou mache devan I still move forward Gen limyè anba tout doulè There is light beneath all pain E mwen toujou vivan And I am still alive The bayou water held reflections Of a soul no longer afraid Not untouched by what had happened But no longer trapped beneath the weight There were violet fires rising Through the ruins of the past And every step beyond the darkness Felt like freedom at long last The moon watched from the shattered towers Like a witness to rebirth As the woman once forgotten Finally reclaimed the earth I can feel the sky opening I can feel the silence change The darkness no longer owns me… Even if it remembers my name… The night could not keep her Though it wrapped around her heart Though it filled her lungs with sorrow Though it pulled her worlds apart Every wound became a doorway Every scar became a flame And the woman who once vanished Now walks unafraid through the rain The night could not keep her… Because she was never made to disappear… I survived places… That were never meant to let me leave… And maybe that is the miracle… Not that I escaped untouched… But that I escaped at all… Mwen soti anba fènwa a I emerged from the darkness Mwen pote limyè mwen toujou I still carry my light Nwit la pa genyen mwen ankò The night no longer owns me Mwen finalman lib I am finally free The night could not keep her Though it carved itself in bone Though it filled the halls with echoes Though it made her feel alone Because somewhere beneath the silence Past the grief and shattered glass There was always something living Still refusing not to last And the woman walking forward Through the violet dawn and rain Carries every sacred memory Without becoming its chains The night could not keep her… Because the dawn already knew her name… I remember the darkness… But I no longer belong to it…