Amelia James Poetry

I’ve held my breath for so long,
waiting for answers that never came,
words that choked on their own weight,
drowned in the silence of what could have been.

There were days when my heart screamed
and no one heard.
When my bones shook under the weight of trust,
shattered by lies I didn’t see coming.
And still, I kept walking,
footsteps leaving bruises on roads I didn’t choose.

How could I not,
when every corner held the ghost of a love,
a life that should have been mine,
but slipped away,
too fast,
too far,
into a shadow I couldn’t outrun.

I wonder if you ever felt it too—
that ache of things left unsaid,
the way the past replays itself
in the quiet spaces of today,
reminding me how much I’ve yet to heal.

But I’m learning to hold my own breath now,
not for you,
not for them,
but for me.
To breathe life into this silence
I’ve spent years holding,
until it becomes something new—
something that speaks not of what was lost,
but of what will never be defined
by the shadows of the past.

And maybe one day,
I’ll stand in the same room
and not feel the tremors of old wounds,
maybe I’ll face you
and find the strength to breathe through it.
Maybe the tremors will stop,
but for now,
I’m still here,
learning how to walk without shaking,
but not yet knowing if I ever will.

-Amelia James