When the storm passed

and the dust began to fall like ash,

clarity settled where chaos had lived.

The storm didn’t come to break me—

it came to shift me.

To knock me down

so I could remember

how to rise.

I searched for you in the winds,

tumbled through the past—

the sweet,

the bitter,

the pieces I still carry.

And when the sky opened,

the sun did return.

This time, I met it with calm.

If the storm ever comes again,

I won’t fear it—

I’ll know what it came for.