How many nights I stayed awake till morning
No one ever saw the fire inside me
I smiled and carried on like nothing happened
But I know the pain I was carrying
There were roads I could never go back to
So I left pieces of myself at every door
I watched you disappear in silence
And somehow I lost everything I had
I used to believe in things like that
One look
One simple please stay
Funny how the deepest wounds
Can come from the things we once believed in
How many nights I stayed awake till morning
How many times did I hide inside myself
I fell I went quiet
But somehow I kept standing
Life took whatever it wanted from me
And still
I am here
Everyone I loved
I put above myself
I kept placing my hope in the wrong hands
And when the hardest days came
One by one I learned
That sometimes you have to walk alone
I said I was fine so many times
Even when I wasn’t
I was hurting inside
But I still wore that smile
One night I looked in the mirror
And asked myself
When did you get so tired
I grew up
But what did it really give me
The years passed
And somehow I became less of myself
The child inside me went quiet
But it never completely disappeared
There is still a little light in me
And no matter how hard they try
It still won’t go out
Yes
I am hurt
I am angry at everyone who hurt me
But I owe myself more than I owe them
I got tired
So damn tired
But I never let go of myself
I broke a little
I lost a little of who I was
Then I let go of what was taking me away from myself
And I came back to me
That old version of me is gone
I am not where I used to be
The harder life came at me
The stronger I learned to stand
Still here
Nadia Zahra
14 08 2026