Giving it all I got (poetry)

I’m in a fight to the death
feeling like I’m holding my last breath
the deafening sound of destiny on my heels

There is a revelation just for you
on the inside
buried beneath the many stories
held captive by the past now healed.

Yet the flesh is strong
and I’m to blame because its only grown
according to what its been fed
even the stuff in my head

Sometimes I answer only to my own name
Forgetting that the
battle ensues
And I’m destined to
break down the hurt and shame
and replace them with a new image

A good thing.

Seeing myself differently
remarkably
speaking to the life inside of me
every beautiful day I have left
even until my last breath,
the one I was holding before,

simply my first in eternity.

-Tracey Michae’l Lewis