Finding me Again

I searched for myself
In places that echoed my name,
Yet every mirror
Showed someone I had become
For everyone else.

Then love arrived,
Not to rescue,
Not to rewrite,
But to remind.

It never asked me
To be smaller,
To be quieter,
Or to hide the pieces
That made me whole.

Instead,
It held my hand
While I gathered
The scattered fragments
Of the person I used to be.

I found my laughter
Waiting in forgotten mornings.
I found my courage
Resting beneath old fears.
I found my voice
Where silence had lived too long.

And when I finally
Looked into your eyes,
I did not disappear.

I recognized myself.

That is the quiet miracle of love:
Not losing who you are,
But returning to yourself
With a heart
That knows its own worth.

Now I walk beside you,
Not as half of a soul,
But as someone complete,
Choosing you,
While never forgetting
How to choose me.