Pressure and Release The tension builds Heaviness follows Crushing defeat Into sweet surrender The pressure Once suffocating Tightened Twisted So close to giving up. Conceding To one’s humanity. “Let the colors flow” She says. Yielding in shared suffering. There is beauty here. In the dark. There is life again. An insight, a spark. You are forged in the fires. Let it burn. Melting. Revealing. Casting light upon wisdom. Unending. -Rae January 2024 Acrylic on Canvas