Brought to Life

By: Caden McDonald

For this week's poetry submission from Caden, a survivor, he discusses how love, safety, and care can lead us from fear and pain, to happiness and comfort with oneself. He reminds us that even though we may feel broken from time to time, there is always someone or something (even if that someone is only ourselves) that can make us feel whole again.

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hold me:

tell me i’ll be okay--

rock me until the screaming stops.

show me the good kind of touch (i long for it.)

collect the pieces of me when i shatter into a million

and hold them near (i’ll be all better soon.)

squeeze me:

mend my broken heart with your sweet words and

soft caresses--

my dear, the power of your touch… (electrifying)

your lips breathe the life back into my hollow body.

love me:

remind me that you’re staying (sometimes i forget.)

teach me how to love myself

when i forget how.

remind me of who i am

when all feels lost

(i’m afraid you loved a different girl than i.)

remember me:

at night when you’re falling asleep 

(picture me: eyes and lips overflowing with joy—burn this image into your memory.)

when you think of happiness, of pink

(i want my name to be synonymous.)

end me:

surround me with a fire so extraordinary--blinding, burning, deadly--

the pain is unrelenting, but i don’t care--

because for once,

it is bright.

  (thank you for helping me remember

how it was to feel alive.)