Dawn breaks, rousing consciousness,

the world pulses to life around me,

a familiar rhythm, now a distant hum,

slipping through my fingers like water.

A new dawn has emerged,

but the scars remain,

tortured echoes of my past, reduced to nothing,

carved by the trials I have sustained.

This is for the warrior hearts who may be more fragile in physical form, but whose spirits are robust. Sometimes despite the pain, sometimes because of it. For anyone dealing with an ongoing, chronic illness, but are determined for it not to define the quality of their life.