Forsaken Ashes, Persistent Dawn
A collection of haunting, hope‑stubborn poems in the spirit of Poe.
For readers who love shadows, honesty, and a dawn that refuses to die
Forsaken Ashes, Persistent Dawn is a collection of poems by Timothy F Terrell that walks straight into the ruins of heartbreak, trauma, and regret—and then stubbornly refuses to stay there. Each poem lingers in the shadows long enough to tell the truth about pain, yet keeps reaching for the fragile, flickering light that will not die out.
Written in the spirit of Poe but anchored in real-world struggle, these pieces blend gothic atmosphere with raw emotional honesty to explore loneliness, loss, faith, and the long road back to hope. Terrell’s voice is intimate and unvarnished, making you feel less like you’re reading poetry and more like you’re overhearing someone finally say what you’ve never had words for.
If you’ve ever felt hollowed out by grief, burned by love, or worn down by life but still hungry for a dawn that keeps rising anyway, this book is for you. Forsaken Ashes, Persistent Dawn invites you to step into the ashes, recognize your own scars, and come away with a renewed sense that even after the darkest night, something inside you still wants to live, to love, and to begin again
From Timothy Terrell
For most of my life, I carried my stories in silence—through military service, hard seasons of work, broken relationships, and the quiet battles nobody sees. The poems in Forsaken Ashes, Persistent Dawn were born in those in‑between hours, when the weight of regret, grief, and unanswered prayers felt heaviest, yet some small part of me refused to let go of hope.
These pieces are not theory; they come from real scars, real mistakes, and real mercy I did not earn. If you have ever felt hollowed out by life and still longed for a light that doesn’t feel fake or easy, this collection was written with you in mind. I invite you to step into these pages, find your own reflection in the shadows, and see if a bit of your dawn might rise here too.
Step Inside the Ashes
The Hollow Within
A shadow cast by my own despair.
The mirror holds no face I know,
Just hollow eyes and a distant glow.
I speak, but silence swallows sound,
I reach, but touch no solid ground.
The world goes on; I watch it pass,
A specter pressed against the glass.
How long have I been buried here,
Alive, yet deaf to hope or fear?
The hollow grows—a cavern deep—
Where once a heart would laugh or weep.
From the Ashes, a Phoenix Rises
And darkness swallowed every prayer—
A stubborn spark still dares to crave
The morning light, the open air.
I thought that love had left me cold,
That faith had fled beyond my reach,
Yet embers glow among the old,
And silence learns, at last, to teach.
From ashes—not a perfect dawn,
But something fragile, something true:
A hope that lingers, still not gone,
A phoenix rising—still askew.