the specific memory of the exact moment their eyes stopped recognizing you and started looking through you

Seen Behind the Mask You Wear

The morning light hits the window and you put on the face that says you are fine. You walk into the room, and you see it happen—the exact second their eyes stop seeing you and start looking through you, as if you are made of glass.

They talk over your silence. They mistake your presence for empty space.

It feels like being erased while you are still standing there. But the light does not look through you.

It looks at you. It sees the effort it takes to hold the mask up.

It sees the person hiding behind the performance. You do not have to earn your visibility today.

The light already knows you are there. You are not invisible.

You are seen.

Drawing from

1 John 3:19-20, Gospel of Thomas 3

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