[Illustrated poem] Stepping Forward, Falling Back

She drags the past behind her,
While it seethes and snarls at her back.
She stops, thinks for an instant.
It seizes a chance to take her again
And once more she falls into its grasp,
Frantically scraping the dirt in the dark.

Indescribable violence wrenches her hope,
The bonds to old pain cut deep,
Escape lies far from her panicked fingertips.
She cries out in her frustration.
Desperate sobs of pain, fear, despair.
Chained to the past she searches for a key.

She tries to convince herself it isn’t happening,
That if she closes her eyes she’ll be safe.
But she can’t stop her fall,
She scrabbles while her stomach lurches.
All she has to cling to
Is the thing that’s pulling her down.