to the girl i used to be

i

wasn't just soft, honestly.

i was a WAR nobody clapped for —

just bruises wearing a smile.

i

was the quiet s u r v i v o r

of my own cruel hands.

the way i apologized for existing

as if my breath was borrowed

and the world was doing me a FAVOR.

the way i S H R A N K myself

to fit into rooms

that were already too small

for my spirit.

    like SHAME was my first language.

sometimes i think,

if my body were a house,

i spent years

burning the furniture

to keep strangers warm.

if love is a garden,

full of bloom, thorns,

B̶r̶o̶k̶e̶n̶ promises, and weeds i watered

then finding ME was like learning

the soil was never the problem —

it was the hands that didn't know

how to plant.

leave your sorrys here.

    i don't NEED them.

leave your "too much" here.

    i'm ENOUGH.

all the versions

you killed to make them comfortable.

    let me REVIVE them.

i h o n o r her now,

the girl who stayed

when everyone else

would have walked away.

    i'd choose her always.