PEACE.

Peace standing where violence once ruled

Empty space where the screams lived

Battlefields

Calm breathing through wounded air

Echoes softening into distant memory

Peace asking what it cost

Peace asking who remains

Peace asking what survived

Peace asking who I am now

Hands no longer shaped like weapons

Eyes no longer searching for threats

Heart no longer ruled by anger

Mind no longer burning with revenge

Names spoken without bitterness

Truth held without fear

Faith walking without armor

Soul resting without resistance

I did not find peace easily

I did not find peace quickly

I did not find peace without loss

I did not find peace unchanged

Violence still lives in memory

Violence still lives in history

Violence still lives in shadows

Violence still lives in me

But peace lives beside the damage

But peace lives inside acceptance

But peace lives inside forgiveness

But peace lives

Lives inside awareness

Now I sit without the war

Now I breathe without the weight

Now I exist without the mask

Now I understand peace