You can find my original article published here on elephant journal.

My power is not diminished by the tears that cascade tenderly down my gentle face,

sweeping over savannas of freckles and the treasure map of scars,

to caress my waiting lips with their soothing holy water.

 

The waterfall of my pain does not weaken me,

unstoppable in vibrant flowing passion.

Anguish rolling in salty torrents,

out from my crying heart, for the entire world to behold.

 

I wear them with pride, these tears.

They are truth

And they shine in a world of denied feelings and suppressed souls.

They sing that something has awakened my essence so intensely,

that they cannot be prevented with rational thought.

We must feel our truths to heal.

 

Tears are strength.

 

My force does not recede when I sit alone in the dark of empty days.

The determination to survive shines a light through the abyss;

it pulls me back from the crumbling cliff edge of despondence,

as I confront my own mortality there.

It compels me to breathe on,

even as my traitorous lungs cry “No more.”

 

Determination declares tomorrow is another day for me to conquer.
I will smile in the face of its luminous dawn,

thankful for the fleeting gift of time,

Even when its relentless march ahead wounds me,

For I am alive to feel it all,

and I will be whole again, one day.

 

Determination is strength.

 

Strength is not vanquished when I scream to the stars in anger.

Though it may be forgotten

in the white-hot fury of the moment,

it waits patiently, for me to return to my own harmony

Channelling the energy of my wrath to craft the change I desire.

 

It moves me to hold my fiery longing in both hands

Letting it drive me, without consuming me.

Peace sings out that I will not give anyone power over my serenity,

I hold that sacred for myself.

Regardless of what the world throws at me,

Tranquillity lives within, my peace is my own.

 

Peace is strength.