Review

“You left, my love, yet the sky remained,
and through its quiet I was named,
not just the girl who watched you go,
but the one who carries what you know.”

Some books don’t simply get read; they sit with you, hold your silences, and become that thin beam of light in a dark tunnel. Lanterns for the Dark felt exactly like that for me. As someone who turns to poetry for calm, grounding, emotional clarity, and for ways to process the unsaid things I don’t always have words for.  This collection arrived like a soft lantern in a season when I needed it the most. Rheaa’s poems made me confront emotions I had pushed aside, emotions I thought I had outrun. Her writing touched the feelings I had learned to ignore, the ones that hid quietly behind my daily strength. Every poem felt like a slow unravelling, a way to meet myself again, a quiet companion for nights that feel too sharp and mornings that feel heavier than they should.

What I love most about this book is how it gently lights up the hidden corners of grief, heartbreak, and self-doubt, not to deepen the ache, but to guide us toward tenderness, courage, and the choice to begin again. The poems are raw, honest, and achingly beautiful. They hurt, but in the way healing sometimes does, a pain that releases rather than traps.

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Some poems stayed with me long after I read them, like ‘The Softest Yes’, written for a girl who keeps riding through her pain, finally chooses herself. ‘Lion’s Breath’, ‘ The Ledger of Love’, it’s one of my favourites. ‘Who I Was Before the Fire’ – a piece that lingered, especially the line: “I also thank the fire for teaching me the weight of light.”, ‘The Day I Forgot Your Voice’- a soft, devastating exploration of memory and grief. Within it, the lines “Maybe forgetting is mercy… not to erase you completely but to let me live without bleeding each time I call your name” stayed with me even longer. ‘You Left But The Sky Stayed’ – a favourite, because it understands the ache of carrying something incomplete.
‘The Night I Couldn’t Breathe’- a tender portrayal of anxiety after loss.

There are also many beautiful poems like ‘When Love Knocks Again’ and ‘Morning Together’  pieces that carry a quiet, steady theme of hope. They remind you that even after the heaviness, light still finds a way back. ‘The Strong and the Softness’ is one of the most powerful poems in the book, reminding you to pause, to pat your own back, and to whisper, ‘You survived.’ It celebrates resilience, the quiet strength that rises from softness itself. And that’s what stayed with me. ‘To the Woman Who Rebuilt Again’, a stunning, uplifting poem honouring every woman who has broken, healed, rebuilt, and stood up once more. Warm, hopeful, and affirming, it feels like a hand held out in solidarity.

Rheaa’s writing style is rich, lyrical, and deeply accessible. There are layers for those willing to sit between the lines, and simplicity for those who simply want to feel. Her tone is tender yet piercing in the most honest way. You can feel the rawness, the softness, and the courage woven through every verse.

This is a book that makes you pause, a book that asks you to feel, to breathe, to sit with your emotions until they loosen their grip. It lets the words hit hard and then gently shows you how to let them go. Somewhere between the pain and the release, you find a small, steady hope, the kind you didn’t realise you needed. If you’re looking for a poetry collection that helps you heal, one that holds both darkness and light in the same palm, that understands grief yet believes in renewal, Lanterns for the Dark is the book you should be reaching for, the book you’ve been searching for.

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