There was a time when gravity owned me
when every thought I had, pulled me down
and every memory dragged its heavy chains
through the endless corridors of my mind
I lived close to the ground, close to the places
where light struggled to reach
until something quietly changed
like a breath I didn’t realise I was holding
finally released, I began to rise
a loosening of the weight that had defined me
until one day I noticed
that the things that once anchored me
no longer had the same hold
my grief still lingering, my loss still painful
but it no longer dictated the direction of my life
this is what it means to defy gravity
not to escape the weight
but to refuse to be defined by it
I rise, not because I am unburdened
but because I have learned
how to carry it differently
©Ann Bagnall
