In reply to a tortured soul

Take the knife and cut away the bindings
tightened over years of misuse and oppression.
Open eyes so long cast downwards, blinded
by the darkness of abusive love.
Inoculate your heart against the poisons
dripped in trusting ears, which burn away
the core of self belief, to leave you naked and alone.
They shall not win.
If over all you raise yourself on wings reformed from
innocence and childhood stolen.
Soar above the cold, unfeeling world and breathe
the sweetness that is life.
The girl reborn.
The slave unlocked, allowed to roam.
The doll outgrown, with puppet strings detached
and flung into the dying embers of controlling pyre.
You are yourself, no inverse mirror image of
another's storm wracked past,
made to atone for sins before you even lived.
Unlock the cage within and take a single step
towards the bloom of hope that shows, as yet, a single
flower on its stem.
Inhale.
And let the scent of freedom blow away the bars
surrounding tortured soul to set you free.

Written for a letter club challenge