the specific terror of hearing their key in the door and realizing you have spent the last hour perfectly still so they won't ask why you are crying

You Are Not A Secret To Keep

The key turns in the lock, and your heart stops because you have spent the last hour perfectly still, holding your breath so no one would ask why you are crying. You froze to keep the peace, to keep the mask on, to keep the world from seeing the crack.

But the light does not need your performance. It saw you in the silence.

It saw the tears before they fell. When the door opens, you do not need to explain the stillness.

You do not need to justify the grief. The one who walks in already knows the weight you carried while you waited.

You are not a secret to be kept. You are a child to be held.

Drawing from

Gospel of Mary 5:4-5, Matthew 6:6

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