I Rise...

On Christmas day,

I stared inside a coffin,

My own.

Loved ones surrounded me,

Tears in their eyes,

Grieving.

Watching them lower the coffin,

It was a bitter-sweet moment,

Actually.

Seeing myself, outside myself.

Seeing every dream, every ideal,

Every memory.

Being lowered into a 6-foot grave.

It was over, all over.

The beautiful memories,

Of that beautiful girl,

That beautiful young woman.

They were buried on Christmas day.

As the first pile of sand was

Thrown into the grave,

I started to panic,

I felt myself suffocate.

Is it really over, it can’t just be over.

Somebody rescue me, I’m not over!

I screamed at the top of my lungs,

Begged for them to please Stop!

But I was already covered with sand,

Too deep for them to hear me.

Their cries drowned mine out,

As I screamed, and screamed & screamed.

In that frantic state, I caught a glimpse

Of a beautiful black eagle approaching

In the distance.

It flew in from the blue skies

And landed beside me.

‘Come fly with me’ it said,

‘Let’s explore the heavens together.’

An overwhelming feeling of peace

Washed over me.

I felt myself leave the grave,

Spread my wings and

Feel the wind on my back.

As we flew further into the sunset,

I looked back and in the distance saw

My loved ones,

Still crying, still grieving.

I wanted to tell them,

Don’t cry for that body laying

In that coffin,

Her time has passed,

She’s gone.

But even as she died,

I continue to live.

My pain, my suffering is

What we’re burying today.

But my spirit lives on,

and As I soar towards a new day…

New horizons, new memories await.

I will never again be as I was,

I will never again be who I was.

But as you turn your back

On this fresh grave and

The beautiful flowers on it.

Let go of the painful memory of

What brought me here.

And hold on to the beautiful spirit

Of the woman I was

When we were together.

Because although the killer

Thought it was a life that he was taking,

A life that he was ruining,

Only God gives life &

Only God can take life.

I’ve been given a second chance at life,

And like this black eagle on my back

I will rise.

I have always risen,

And will continue to rise.