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The shadow self, the parts I disavow,
The aspects of myself I can't allow
To surface in the light, the hidden traits,
That fester in the darkness, sealed by gates.
The anger, envy, jealousy, and greed,
The insecurities that plant a poisonous seed,
The fear of abandonment, the need to cling,
The wounds that never truly learn to sing.
I cannot run, I cannot hide away
From this reflection staring back today,
I must embrace the darkness, understand
The reasons why it holds me in its hand.
To integrate the shadow, piece by piece,
To find compassion, grant myself release,
From the self-condemnation, the endless blame,
And recognize the human in the frame.
To understand the origins of my pain,
The childhood traumas that still leave their stain,
The patterns learned, the coping mechanisms used,
The wounds inflicted, the defenses infused.
To see the child within, afraid and small,
Desperate for love, and fearing any fall,
To offer comfort, understanding, grace,
And heal the broken places, time and space.
This journey inward, difficult and long,
Demands vulnerability, a strength that's strong,
To face the ugliness, the raw, unfiltered truth,
And find the beauty hidden in my youth.
For in the shadow, strength can be found,
Resilience forged on consecrated ground,
A deeper understanding of the soul,
A path to wholeness, making me whole.
By integrating the shadow, I can see
The darkness not as enemy, but me,
A part of myself, deserving of embrace,
A source of wisdom, finding its own place.
This period in life so long over due..

Sitting in the discomfort until I’m black and blue
In shadows of memories, I hide,
A heart that's cracked inside,
Whispers from the past, they call,
I'm scared I'll make you fall.  

Your love, it feels so real,
But I’m lost in what I feel,
Childhood chains, they still bind,
And I fear what I might find.  

Hurting the man that loves me,
Can’t break these chains,
can’t break free,
I push you away,
But you stay, oh, you stay.  

Every tender touch, I flinch,
Memories scratch, a painful pinch,
You hold my heart in your hands,
But I’m caught in shifting sands.  

Your light shines through my gloom,
But I can't shake this forsaken doom,
Afraid to let you in,
While I’m drowning in my sin.  

Hurting the man that loves me,
Can’t break these chains,
can’t break free,
I push you away,
But you stay, oh, you stay.  

Can’t you see the scars I wear?
A fragile soul laid bare,
Yet you love me still,
With a heart that's brave and will.  

Hurting the man that loves me,
Can’t break these chains,
Can’t break free,
I push you away,
But you stay, oh, you stay.  

In the quiet of the night,
I’ll learn to love you right,
With each step,
I’l mend what is within
So that love without pain can begin..

To my soul song..
RhymeReRhyme
If not for his hand in mine I don’t know if I would have ever known what it means to live life with truth and authenticity
Feels like a curse
An urge to work for
Getting more and more
Of things I can hardly
Enjoy anymore
I seriously need some vacations...
I wake with the sun on my skin,
soft sheets, warm cat, the scent of coffee-
a life stitched together with quiet blessings.
Still, the ache rolls in
like fog over golden fields.

The world burns somewhere-
bombs in bedrooms,
mothers in rubble,
children clutching silence like a toy
they no longer know how to play with.

And here I am,
eyes full of water
for reasons I can't explain,
guilt gnawing like a rat
at the corners of my comfort.

How dare I cry
when my fridge hums with food,
when I have hands to hold,
and laughter that visits,
even if it leaves too soon?

I bury my sadness
under headlines,
stacking grief like sandbags
to hold back my own storm.
But sorrow leaks anyway.

Maybe this is the curse of peace-
to carry the weight
of pain you haven't earned,
to feel broken
in a life that looks whole.

I say thank you
and still feel hollow.
I pray for others
and still feel alone.
And I wonder-
is it weakness,
or just being human,
to weep in the garden
while the world is on fire?
 Jul 22 Shang
eliana
The wind blows
The sun shines
The grass grows
The air smells of pines
If only it were mine -
The halls are loud
The building is cold
The people walk proud
The kids are bold
If only it were me -
The days are long
The week is hard
The answer was wrong
The kids put up their guard
If only it wasn't me -
I want to be open
I want to be happy
I hate being broken
I hate acting sadly
The walls, they glare at me
The words jump off the pages
The stares get heavy
The building is a cage
Trapping me
Trapping us
Holding us here as if they're scared we'll leave
If only people could understand me
Then maybe, just maybe
The days wouldn't be so lengthy
So hard
So scary
So difficult
Because that is me -
Something I don't want to be
It doesn't ask.
It never knocks.
It just shows up-
mid-sentence,
mid-step,
mid-me.

My body remembers
things I don't want to.
Fluorescent lights,
locked doors,
her voice like venom,
his hands,
the smoke thick enough
to erase a home.

I'm split between moments.
One version of me
is pouring coffee.
The other is back
in a room I begged to leave,
screaming behind my eyes
while my face stays still.

And people say
"but you're safe now."
Like my nervous system
understands logic.
Like my skin
doesn't still flinch at kindness,
like safety is a thing
I've ever known for sure.

I carry too many names.
******. Liar. *****. Crazy.
He. She. It.
I carry too many versions of myself
that other people made
without asking.

And I'm so ******* angry.
At her.
At them.
At the system that locked me up
when all I needed
was to be held without harm.
At the fact that I'm still here
trying to make something soft
out of what they left jagged.

Sometimes I wish
I could go back-
whisper to the kid
who hid under blankets
trying to disappear.
Tell him: you were right.
Tell them: it wasn't your fault.
Tell me
I'd get out.

And I did.
But sometimes,
parts of me still don't know that.
They shake,
they shut down,
they show up uninvited.

And I breathe,
even when it burns.
And I stay,
even when I want to run.
And I write,
because it's the one place
I get to be the one
telling the story.
 Jun 2 Shang
Anjana Rao
The worst thing,
most insidious thing
about trauma
is that
it doesn’t matter what anyone does,
in the end,
everything is,
(must be, has to be)
your fault.

Trauma is
a voice:
you should have known,
you should have done more,
you should have stood up for yourself,
what is wrong with you,
do you want to be miserable,
why did you trust,
don’t you ever learn?


Trauma is
you watching you
watching what you do,
watching what you don’t do,
watching it all go by.

Trauma is
a voice:
do something
do something
do something.


Trauma is
screaming at a pre-taped football game,
expecting a different outcome.

Trauma is
begging the fictional character to not open the door
when there is clearly a killer waiting.

Trauma is
the hole you keep finding yourself in,
whether or not you see it,
maybe you fall in,
maybe you dive in,
it doesn’t make a difference.

Trauma is
painful -
repeated openings of the same wounds,
hitting a bruise again, again, again,
watching the colors change -
but mostly,
it’s an embarrassment.

Trauma is
a voice:
This is fine.
You can’t tell.
This is fine.
You can’t tell.
This is fine.
You can’t tell.


Trauma is
your best kept secret.

Trauma is
the kind of ****** up
that can’t be named,
can’t be explained.

Trauma is
the kind of ****** up
that is too deep to be fixed.

Trauma is
who you are.
I’ve arrived again
in a place I used to know
I swear this laundromat is a portal
I’m in a wash cycle
wringing lessons free from my collar
how do I escape the rinse?

I wanna be clean
but this process feels so messy
not *****   -   but messy
share the heart, hide the hands
I am distorted and out of sorts
her eyes hold rebirth
if I could just die first
I wanna be clean

does purged love create space for more love?
why is release the first step to receipt?
is it?
gently deterred, no detergent
I am spinning on overload
strung out and stranded
how do I escape this rinse?

I used to know
how to worship being alive
without bubbles
is it any wonder why
sometimes cycles feel like
perpetual spiraling
I haven’t even put any currency in
and it’s already starting again

what’s the cost of water?
I wanna be clean
but I don’t wanna pay
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