The Light Holds You When You Break

The afternoon sun is bright, and it makes the mask feel heavy. You are holding yourself together so perfectly that no one sees the tremor in your hands.

You smile at the right moments. You nod.

You perform the version of you that the world expects, while inside, the cracks are widening. But the light does not need your performance to see you.

It sees the exhaustion behind the eyes. It knows the weight of the armor you wear.

There is a truth that lives in you, and it will be with you forever — not because you held it together, but because it holds you. You do not have to fix the cracks for the light to get in.

The light was there before the mask, and it will be there after you take it off.