Finding Us

 

I’m sorry it took so long

for me to find the “me”

who stayed hidden,

wearing masks made from

problems to solve,

other people’s anger,

other people’s everything—

until I almost forgot

I was here at all.

I was a mirror,

reflecting only what I saw,

never daring to shine my own light.

But then—

I noticed some souls

spill color when they are kind.

Their goodness paints the air—

shades of love,

tones of forgiveness,

strokes of hope

that linger like halos

where no brush has touched.

And me?

I found myself

between the stripes

of a county jail jumpsuit,

in corners no one

would think to search—

behind barred windows,

on thin mattresses,

in the silence of a chapel

where I learned

that even sorrow can hum

a song of resurrection.

Kindness cracked me open.

It pours joy into the hollow spaces

I thought would never hold light again.

Now when I smile,

it isn’t borrowed—

it’s mine.

The “me” I thought was gone

was simply waiting

for gentleness

to call her home.