Stepping Stones – A Poem

For a time,

I was broken,

unable to find

the pieces of myself

that I had lost along the way.

It felt like my body

was crumbling into itself,

unable to find stability

in a world that it

no longer knew.

Over time,

the light was able

to find me within

the dark trees of the forest.

The light led me

to new paths

that I had not tread before.

Gradually, I began to pick up

pieces of rocks, bits of shells

and feathers that glowed like flame.

I didn’t know it at the time,

but these were pieces of me

that I had assumed were missing,

when in reality, they were waiting

to be found. With each step forward,

every shell I picked up, every feather

found on the forest floor,

I regained a part of myself

that hadn’t been missing,

they’d merely been waiting

for me to choose the path

that would lead me to them.

I hadn’t been broken completely.

Instead, I had only needed to

take the steps that would lead me

to myself.