I Am Not What Was Done to Me

I Am Not What Was Done to Me They took a piece they had no right to touch, Left me bleeding in places no one could see. A child robbed of her voice, Taught to smile while silently drowning. But I am not the silence. I am not the shame. I am not the body they broke Or the night they stole. I am the scream that rose through the cracks, The fire that refused to die. I stitched my soul back with trembling hands, And I walk not untouched, but undefeated. They thought I’d vanish in the shadows, But I became the storm. And though I tremble, I rise, Again and again. This pain is part of me, But it does not own me. I am not what was done to me. I am what I choose to become. — Jalilah Usna✍️🖤