Surrender

Surrender
is not defined by war alone
Surrender
is not a white flag
or knees in the mud
Surrender is not the beggar you think

Surrender is acceptance
It is the act of letting go
It is powerful
and requires courage

Death will come
It will take you
Or worse still, someone you love
To surrender is to choose how you will let go

Surrender is accepting your suffering
With the knowledge that it cannot define you
but it belongs to you

You cannot smother the life from your suffering
Give it air and room to breath
Be with it

Surrender is release
Liberation

It is not the reckless pleasure
of letting go of the wheel on a dark country road

Surrender is the conscious act of sitting in suffering
Like watching my mother die and being still, not running
Or the courage to allow my children their mistakes
because there’s beauty in those messes we all make

I’ve surrendered
Not from weakness or foolishness
But from wisdom, wild courage
and a force of strength I did not know I possessed

You can follow Ann marie Houghtailing and see her visual work at trailsnotpaths on Instagram