This Time, I Stay

I used to run from softness.

I didn’t trust it,

I didn’t know how to hold what didn’t hurt.

But this time, I stay.

Not because the fear is gone, but because the love is louder.

Because your patience never made me feel like a burden.

This time, I stay

because your presence felt like peace before I believed I deserved it.

This time,

I don’t flinch when I’m seen.

I don’t shrink when I’m held.

I open.

I offer.

I meet your reach with both hands.

You taught me that love is not a rescue but a return,

to myself, and

to the parts I once buried to survive.

And now when I look at you,

I don’t see escape,

I see home.

This time, I am not afraid of being loved in the light.