Strength exists in those who are reluctant enough to refrain from breaking...

Strength exists in those who are reluctant enough to refrain from breaking underneath the heavy gaze of whichever force is trending at the moment
Be it the voice-shaking
Gyrating
Dictionary-spewer of the voice box at will
Be it the kid-beater
Guardian
All and otherwise misguided
Be it the stuffer
P*nis or finger or obscure object
Into saturated hole
We all misinterpret what the mountains do on their ranges
What the trees think when they spread their leaves
As if large equals overcoming equals overbearing
As if mountains are not ruled by the tide of the winds, too
Strength is beauty seeping through clouds
And ranges dotting horizons
And the two of these together changing the face of the plains
It is not the toil of one force over the adversary it has imagined
But breaking in dignity when it is time to break
And building in short breaths when they can be caught
And never looking away from either •

There will be a time for each of us when we will break. Life will become too heavy, and we will have bent to our breaking point. And then we reach rock bottom, and will swear to never travel there again. Rock bottom is hellish. And, if we are able to be strong, we will do everything in our power to rise.
And this process is the epitome of strength. It is not those who are larger forcing submission from those who are smaller. It is not destroying another to make them weaker than you are. Rather, strength is the inevitable break, and then the initiative to rise, and then the actual rising.

If you can fall into hell and then find your way to Earth again, you have found your strength. •

Poem from Four Years in Chrysalis
© Aisha Tariqa Abdul Haqq Publishing
Follow @AishaTariqa for more daily poetry •