Descent to the bottom
When all seemed lost, something real emerged.
Rock bottom isn’t the end. It’s where the real story begins.
Descent to the Bottom
Behind the eyes—an empty gaze,
A flicker lost in endless haze.
No fight remains—just full surrender,
Hope and faith, abandoned forever.
At rock bottom, a failure’s fall—
Brimming with promise—I shattered it all.
My concrete truth, my bound decree:
A cage I forged unknowingly.
Tattered clothes reflect decay,
Worn down by time, I waste away.
Contempt kept quiet, beneath the skin,
A mask sewn tight from deep within.
Toiling numb, the days ran gray,
Each hour bled the will away.
My heart withdrew—I barred the gate,
Made peace with pain. Accepted fate.
Facade now shredded, soul laid bare,
The buried pain now fills the air.
Alone I sit, a ghost unseen—
What once was bright now dull, unclean.
Deep in the pit, a whisper stirred,
A thread of truth, a name unheard.
My other self said: “Do not fear.”
And from that stillness… a single tear.
No longer bound to cliché blues,
I saw the world in deeper hues.
Behind the gaze, a fire grew—
Not bright, but steady. Quiet. True.
I start the climb—jagged rocks cut deep,
No map to guide, no vow to keep.
Uncertain hands reach out for stone,
Each grasp a hope I don’t yet own.
The climb is steep, the pain still near,
But I press on, without the fear.
Reborn in truth, I rise anew—
Not who I was… but someone new.
© 2025 Micah Shirley | Threads of Growth | All rights reserved.
Micah, that transition from “empty gaze” to “fire grew, not bright, but steady. Quiet. True” hit me hard. There’s something profound about how you wrote that inner voice as your “other self.” Not some external saviour, but the part of you that survived the shattering.
The image of starting the climb with “uncertain hands” but no fear, that’s the paradox of real healing. You don’t need confidence or clarity. You need to reach for the next stone.
What strikes me most is how you ended with “not who I was... but someone new.” Rock bottom didn’t just break you down; it broke you open. There’s a difference, and you captured it beautifully.