Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of defeat, so to have I risen from the darkness of despair. I am not who I once was. The thing that made me who I am destroyed me. Yet here I stand, battered and bruised but no longer broken. Journeying on, away from the ashes of broken dreams and shattered hopes, I will walk the path given to me until I can rest my head in arms of one who truly cares. One who will never leave or forsake me.
You said you would love me forever. I guess forever was shorter than I thought. You hurt me. You broke me. In my time of greatest need I was left in the rain like an abandoned dog. Bitterness became my closest companion. Hate became my friend. They completed the destruction that you had started. Forgiveness was the last thing on my mind, but it was forgiveness that brought me out of the darkness and back into the light. And so I forgive you, even though you hurt me in a way you cannot begin to understand. The pain will never completely vanish. Memories haunt me like ghosts. But I will not look back. I will not be burdened by grief. I will move forward like a ship sailing out to sea. What awaits me on the other shore? Only God knows. But know this: Though we will probably never see or speak to each other again, I forgive you.