Unbreakable & Undone

A spoken word for the Eights
who roar with justice and ache to be held

Don’t mistake my power,

for absence of pain

Nor confuse my fire,

for freedom from fear

I am the wall,

and the wound

The protector,

and the child

still learning what it means

to lay down the sword

without losing the war

They call me Eight.

The Challenger.

The Boss.

But beneath every title

is a child that vowed early

“No one will hurt me again”

No one was strong enough

to protect me,

So I became strength itself.

Muscle turned into identity.

Control became my comfort.

Power, my prayer.

Vulnerability is weak

Overestimating independence

Underestimating need

Forgetting one can be mighty,

and still need mercy.

To defend I’ll deny

Burying soft things

so deep

they wither away in the dark

“I am strong”

becomes armour so thick

even I can’t feel the heat

of my own heart.

The world is unjust,

so I must stand strong.

But strength,

without humility & surrender,

is just another prison

with better locks.

If you hurt me

I'll rise higher

If you betray me

I'll never need you again

And vengeance will be mine

I see where power is.

Who holds it

Who misuses it

Who abuses it

and step in

not just for me,

but for those who can’t.

Control through Justice.

Being betrayed.

Lied to.

Controlled.

Dismissed.

I’ll shoot you!

Mistake my heart for a threat,

or try to tame me

when all I need

is to be trusted,

I’ll shoot you again!

Innocence and

the ability to trust

without trembling

is my holy pursuit.

To believe

not everything is a fight.

To know love

won’t always cost me

everything.

I stretch toward Two

and learn to serve

without control.

To help

without needing to lead.

To give love

without testing loyalty first.

I release toward Five

and find rest

in stillness.

Power in reflection.

Clarity,

not through dominance

but through depth.

Learning to trust my gut

before insight,

to pair courage

with compassion.

To let my body

tell me the truth

not just when to fight,

but when to feel too.

So, I stop

I listen

Because true power

never silences,

it strengthens the voice of others.

I rise for the voiceless

For the silenced

For the child in me

still waiting to be held

without earning it.

I move with conviction

but now I check

whether my roar

is shielding my sorrow

Asking my rage,

my resistance,

my armour

what it really needs.

“May you have the courage to be vulnerable

and the dignity to ask for what you need.”

(John O’Donohue)

I dare not just to defend,

but to receive.

I am the Eight.

I am fire and force,

but also the flicker

of longing in the dark.

I do not fear confrontation

but I tremble before tenderness.

I love with a loyalty

that can rebuild nations.

I am not here

to control the world.

I am here

to co-create it.

With power, yes.

But also with peace.

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The Fire That Seeks the Light

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The Peace That Roars