Ashes & Poison

I’ve worn the weight of a thousand nights,

Where hope and hunger intertwine,

My family’s tears have shaped my eyes,

And turned my blood to turpentine.

Every dream I build just breaks,

Like glass beneath my trembling hand,

I drink to drown the sound it makes,

As my future slips through the sand.

The bottle hums my lullaby,

And poisons what I can’t deny…

But I swear I’ll rise from ashes and poison,

Bleed my soul until it’s golden,

If the world won’t give, I’ll tear the sky,

Until my name’s immortalized.

Though I’m lost and barely holding,

One day I’ll make it, I know it’s coming—

And I’ll figure it out before I die,

If it’s the last breath I defy.

I’ve watched the years steal love from grace,

Turn warm hands cold, and eyes to stone,

I keep my sorrow behind my face,

So no one sees I’m all alone.

The answers hide where faith once slept,

And I’ve begged the stars for a sign,

But the only god that ever wept

Now stares through the bottom of my poison.

Still somewhere deep, a whisper calls,

Through blood and doubt and broken walls…

And I’ll rise from ashes and poison,

Trade my pain for something chosen,

For every tear my mother cried,

I’ll make her proud before I die.

Though I’m haunted and hollowed inside,

I’ll make this right before my time—

One day I’ll stand, one day I’ll find,

The reason I survived.

I’ve fallen enough to know the ground,

I’ve bled enough to turn it proud,

But love still beats beneath this skin,

A war I’ll fight until I win.

And when my hands reach light again,

I’ll lift them for my blood, my kin,

For every soul who prayed I’d stand—

I’ll build their promised land.

I’ll rise from ashes and poison,

Even if hope’s the last emotion,

I’ll climb through hell’s design—

For my family, for what’s mine.

If I never find peace of mind,

Let my heart be the sign—

That through pain, through loss, through time…

I tried.