Light Finds Me Anyway
By Melba Morel
I have hidden
in houses with thick curtains,
slept through sunrises
on purpose,
and called it survival.
I have dimmed myself
to match the shadows
in someone else’s room,
forgetting that I was born
a soft blaze.
But still—
light finds me.
It slips through the cracks
of my resistance,
paints my eyelids golden
before I even wake,
reminding me
I’m still here.
Light doesn’t ask
for permission.
It arrives,
regardless.
It shows me
what I didn’t want to see—
and what I’d forgotten
to celebrate.
Even the body glows
from the inside.
Even grief
throws a reflection.
And maybe
that’s the lesson:
Some part of us
always remembers
how to shine
back.
Melba Morel is an author and poet based in South Florida. Her work explores grief, identity, and healing through the lens of nature, memory, and personal transformation. She is the author of Unplanted Yet Flourishing: A Poetic Journey Through Infertility, Loss & Healing and founder of Poetic Nectar Collective.
You can read the entire This Makes up the Sky series by visiting: https://womenwhosubmitlit.org/category/the-sky/