The Light I Kept: Poems from Loss, Love, and Becoming

The Light I Kept Poems from Loss, Love, and Becoming by Desiray LeeThis book began as survival.What started in therapy as simple journaling became poetry written in the margins of grief, healing, exhaustion, love, and becoming. The Light I Kept is a raw and intimate collection of poems that trace loss, growth, friendship fractures, motherhood, mental health, resilience, and the quiet strength it takes to keep showing up.These poems do not arrive neatly. They hold anger and softness. Endings and beginnings. Moments of breaking and moments of resolve.This is not a story about having everything figured out. It is a record of staying. Of learning how to keep moving when joy feels complicated and grief refuses to leave quietly.Written over seasons of deep loss, major change, and personal rebuilding, The Light I Kept speaks to anyone who has ever felt like they were falling apart while still holding it together. To anyone navigating grief, healing, or the in-between. To anyone learning how to choose themselves again.If you have ever wondered whether wandering meant failing, this book is for you."Not all those who wander are lost."