Echoes of the Soul is a poetry collection that gives voice to the quiet, powerful emotions we often hide — grief, longing, healing, and hope. Through lyrical and emotionally charged verse, Melyssa Tirase explores the human experience from the inside out: the ache of memory, the beauty of motherhood, the shadow of chronic pain, and the radiant strength that emerges from brokenness.
Rooted in raw vulnerability and shaped by Tirase’s Romanian heritage and lived experiences, these poems are woven with myth, introspection, and universal truth. Whether you are navigating change, seeking connection, or rediscovering your inner light, Echoes of the Soul offers a reflective space where emotion becomes poetry, and pain transforms into power.
Echoes of the Soul is a poetry collection that gives voice to the quiet, powerful emotions we often hide — grief, longing, healing, and hope. Through lyrical and emotionally charged verse, Melyssa Tirase explores the human experience from the inside out: the ache of memory, the beauty of motherhood, the shadow of chronic pain, and the radiant strength that emerges from brokenness.
Rooted in raw vulnerability and shaped by Tirase’s Romanian heritage and lived experiences, these poems are woven with myth, introspection, and universal truth. Whether you are navigating change, seeking connection, or rediscovering your inner light, Echoes of the Soul offers a reflective space where emotion becomes poetry, and pain transforms into power.
**Introduction**
Poetry is where the soul leaves fingerprints.
This book is a lantern made of breath and silence.
Each verse is a doorway — step in gently.
---
**36 Iris Blooms**
Thirty-six blooms—just thirty-six,
That’s how long *forever* sticks.
We crowned it timeless, made it gold,
But time, it withers what we hold.
Petals shattered on the street,
Like hearts too fragile, incomplete.
They fell where promises used to lie—
And left me learning how to cry.
So here I stand—still split in two,
The past, the wound, the thought of you.
And in the dark, without a sound,
The petals bloom beneath the ground.
---
**If I Miss You**
If I miss you—if warmth still stays,
a flicker lost in yesterday’s haze—
I do not know.
I have not forgotten
the moment your heart turned to stone,
the moment you left me alone.
If I miss you—
let it be so.
Better to miss you
than lose myself once more.
---
**The Wrong Train**
The tracks hum low, a broken song,
a journey steady, yet somehow wrong.
Each mile you pass feels heavy, worn,
a whisper aching to be torn.
Step off. Step free. The tracks can wait—
there’s more than iron to meet your fate.
---
**Mirage**
When you touch me,
the sea awakes—
a hush,
a hymn,
a thousand breaks.
Don’t let me fall.
Don’t let me stray.
Be my light
through darkest day.
Written by author and poet Melyssa Tirase, Echoes of the Soul gives rise to a whirlwind of emotion and storytelling, carting its readers into far flung corners of the mind from the comfort of their own sofa. Coming in at just under one hundred pages, Echoes of the Soul is split across five chapters, each setting the theme and tone for the poems that follow. These chapters are: "Whispers of the Heart", "Bonds Unspoken", "The Wound and the Flame", "Memory and Reckoning" and "Storms Within, Stars Beyond" (with title names like these, it is near impossible to pick a favourite!)
Most of the poems in this collection last the length of one page, a couple breaking out into a second. Tirase's approach to the structure of her poetry tends to follow a similar pattern of stanzas and rhyming as and when the subject matter calls for it. Favourites in the collection include "Mirage", "I Stitched the Wounds You Left Behind" and "The Dream We Weave in Time". The poem "The Echo My Soul Always Gave" also deserves a notable mention for this juicy opener:
You are stardust kissed by firelight,
Moonlit dreams wrapped in the night.
As an overarching collection, Echoes of the Soul is a generally pleasing read, with a beautifully designed cover to sit alongside. It is not entirely clear how the stargazing element of the cover marries with the sentiment of the poems within, which mostly tie into themes of personal growth, but the cover is still attractive all the same. This collection could have also been heightened by use of a numbered contents page (the contents page exists, but without number referencing). It is a very small detail but one that would help readers if they want to quickly flick to, or revisit, a specific poem.
As the author of Echoes of the Soul, Tirase has created a lovely collection of stories showcasing hurt, healing and growth. It is a enjoyable read and one which will leave readers inspired for the next steps they take into the world long after they finish this book. To end on a quote from the author herself (taken from another of her poems, "Severance")…
No echo leads my steps today,
The past remains where it must stay.
I leave her in that silent space,
And rise anew in my own grace.
AEB Reviews