The Light Was Yours Before Them

The sun is coming up, and for the first time in a long time, the light feels like it belongs to you alone. When the people you trusted to hold the lamp become the ones who dim it, the dawn can feel like an accusation.

But the light was never theirs to give, and it was never theirs to take. It was yours before you walked through their doors.

It will be yours long after you walk away. There is light within a person of light, and it lights up the whole world.

You do not need their permission to shine. You do not need their validation to be whole.

The morning is not asking you to forgive them yet. It is only asking you to remember who you are before they spoke your name.

The hurt is real, but it is not the root. The root is the light that survived the betrayal.

And it is still burning.