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Dipti  Vyas's avatar

Wow!! You don’t chase the light, you let it meet its shadow, and that is rarer. The rebirth here is not loud or triumphant; it is private, almost austere. No witnesses, no laurel, no applause. Just a quiet merging under an argent mercy.

I love how the storms are not dramatized, they simply were. And in that restraint, the transformation feels earned.

“Tomorrow / I was reborn” that tense alone bends time into something sacred.

This is not hope as decoration.

It is hope as germination.

PancakeSushi's avatar

Thank you for seeing it clearly Dipti

Dipti  Vyas's avatar

It did take a couple reads!

Moon-Kite Maker's avatar

Hero gazed long at the pond

hoping for a glimpse of himself

but could not see the reflection

beneath its leaf-lettered surface.

Yet when he stirred the waters

swirling his hand in the murk

until all ripples finally stilled

his eye was clear as the sky.

PancakeSushi's avatar

Thank you Moon-Kite Maker

I'm honored to have your reflection

AsukaHotaru's avatar

That unfinished puzzle image made me grin... because yeah.

PancakeSushi's avatar

Thank you Asuka

Claire Cayson's avatar

Oh Pancake Sushi so good so filled with sensitivity Thank you for the gift peace and love Claire ❤️

PancakeSushi's avatar

Thank you Claire

Claire Cayson's avatar

Thank you for fearlessly sharing love Clsire

Joel L's avatar

Beautiful. Felt this. Lived this.

PancakeSushi's avatar

Thank you Joel

Meditations On Permafrost's avatar

This is wonderful. I especially enjoyed this stanza. It felt eternal/seasonal.

I wonder at the road ahead

A mute witness to possibility and hope

Or a seed waiting to bear its fruit at dawn

When the spring remembers the warm sun

PancakeSushi's avatar

Thank you Meditations! I appreciate that, especially from you!

C Simone's avatar

Oh my goodness, love your poetry!! Write a book, people not on here need to read your words!

PancakeSushi's avatar

Hahaha thank you, C, I need to get off my butt and do that, I keep getting told. I appreciate your praise

Amelia Bellefort's avatar

I get the feeling this was written while you were driving at night, alone, after an awful afternoon in which you had to make a choice, leave something behind, prioritise yourself. I'm not sure why, I loved this, it's the exact amount of vulnerability and lonely I needed to read today, not too little, not too much 🥺

PancakeSushi's avatar

Thank you very much Amelia. I try to infuse hope in there, too

Gary L Taylor's avatar

Sensitive and powerful at the same time. A piece looking at transformation, that it, in itself, transformative. Superb.

PancakeSushi's avatar

Thank you Gary

A Writer’s Voice's avatar

No words, Mike. As usual, you make me want to write. You inspire me to be better. I love this.

PancakeSushi's avatar

Thank you Chris. You do the same for me. I aspire to be as technically proficient and diverse in topics and inspired in execution as you. There's a huge reason you've achieved success here.

A Writer’s Voice's avatar

I’m glad we found each other’s work!

Maria Matheou's avatar

Silently witnessing your own evolution and transformation. Powerful.

PancakeSushi's avatar

Thank you Maria

Sara da Encarnação's avatar

Tomorrow I was reborn....

Excellent

PancakeSushi's avatar

Thank you Sara

Adrião Pereira da Cunha's avatar

This poem feels like someone slowly finding their way back to themselves after being lost for a long time. The early lines carry that quiet ache of looking in the mirror and seeing a version of yourself that doesn’t quite add up anymore. I love how the imagery moves from storms and scattered thoughts to a moment of clarity under the moon. There’s something intimate about the shadow finally meeting the light with no one else around. The shift away from dread and heaviness feels like someone finally exhaling after years of holding their breath. By the end, the poem opens into a gentle kind of hope, not loud, just steady. The road ahead is uncertain, but it’s no longer frightening it’s possible. The image of being a seed waiting for spring is beautifully tender. It leaves you with the sense that healing doesn’t rush, but it does return.

PancakeSushi's avatar

Thank you APC

Michael Hatcher's avatar

I agree with Nick. Great job!

Rafa Joseph's avatar

Makes me think of Jon Snow abandoning the Night's Watch. Perhaps some "orders" of the soul deserve to be abandoned. Very evocative, Pancake.

PancakeSushi's avatar

Thank you Rafa