A Poetry Collection
What Remained
25 Poems
By Nicole Washington
Now Available
After everything life took, what remained?
Real poetry. Written from the places where life changed everything.
A Note Before You Begin
Some books teach.
Some books explain.
Some books tell you what to do.
This book does something different.
It sits beside you.
What Remained is a collection of twenty-five poems written from the places most people spend their lives trying to avoid:
The hospital room.
The empty chair.
The unanswered prayer.
The goodbye that stayed.
The life you expected.
The body that changed.
The grief that would not leave.
The grace that did.
Each poem asks a single question:
What remained?
“Life hit hard.
Grace hit harder.
And by the grace of God—I'm still here.”
— Nicole Washington
Inside the Collection
What This Collection Explores
Loss
The things we lose.
The people we miss.
The futures we imagined.
Illness
The body that changes.
The treatment that becomes routine.
The dignity that remains.
People
The ones who left.
The ones who stayed.
The ones who shaped us.
Heritage
What Grandma knew.
What generations carried.
What lives on inside us.
Faith
The prayers nobody heard.
The God they never showed you.
The grace that remained.
Becoming
The woman who remained.
The person who survived.
The life still unfolding.
From the Book
Read a Sample Poem
— A Poem from the Collection —
I came looking for the answers.
I left carrying the questions.
I came expecting a rescue.
I left learning to be still.
I came with a plan.
I left with a presence.
I came to be healed.
I left learning to be held.
What remained?
Grace. Quiet. Unmoved. Enough.
And a God who never left the chair.
Excerpt from What Remained: 25 Poems by Nicole Washington
For the Ones Still Here
Who This Book Is For
For the person learning how to live after loss.
For the caregiver carrying more than anyone sees.
For the patient learning a new version of life.
For the woman rebuilding after disappointment.
For the person who still believes something beautiful can remain after everything changes.
For anyone who has ever asked:
“What now?”
About the Work
About the Collection
What Remained is the most literary work in Nicole Washington's catalog.
These poems are not explanations.
They are witnesses.
Witnesses to survival.
Witnesses to grief.
Witnesses to grace.
Witnesses to the stubborn and sacred truth that life can change completely and still leave something beautiful behind.
About the Author
Nicole Washington
Pastor Nicole Washington is a pastor, teacher, author, speaker, patient advocate, and founder of Nicole Washington Ministries.
For more than four decades she has walked with people through illness, caregiving, grief, loss, disappointment, faith, and survival.
What Remained is a poetic reflection of those journeys.
Not theory.
Not observation.
Witness.
A Final Invitation
Maybe you are holding grief.
Maybe you are holding questions.
Maybe you are holding a version of your life you never expected to live.
This collection will not rush you.
It will not preach at you.
It will not force an answer.
It will simply sit beside you and ask:
What remained?
And perhaps, somewhere in these pages, you will discover your answer.
All purchases support Nicole Washington Ministries, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Some things were lost.
Some things were taken.
Some things changed forever.
But something remained.
— What Remained —
25 Poems by Nicole Washington
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God Does Not Waste
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Still Standing After Everything
When life changed, grace remained.
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I'm Still Here
The autobiography — faith, illness, the story that refused to end.
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Dear Life… You Did Not Break Me
30 truths for people who refuse to give up.
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Real poetry. Real life.
Real grace.
25 poems from the places where life changed everything.