BY CHELSEA STATLER

Cold. Hard. Empty.

A mere machine disguised as human.

Visibly alive. 

Invisibly dead. 

Lost. 

Alone in a crowd; a stranger even to myself. 

Seen, but never known. 

Fed, but never satisfied. 

Achieving, but never fulfilled. 

Light. Freedom. Life. 

Words I hear but cannot grasp. 

Ideas, intangible. 

Dreams, unattainable. 

Phantoms. 

Fleeting hopes. 

Leaves blown on the breeze, forever out of reach. 

Sunbeams through my fingers.

Snowflakes melting too soon. 

Joy. Love. Healing. 

A voice through the darkness. 

A call to more. 

The greeting of a Friend.

Rise.

I step forward and enter freedom. 

Vision beyond tomorrow. 

Power beyond my strength.

A future beyond my past. 

Warm. Held. Full. 

My soul alive, clothed in flesh. 

My stony heart made real. 

Whole. 

Wounds bound by Physician’s hand. 

Life reborn from coal and ash. 

Passion forged in fire and blood.

Depression lifts in light of love.