The Dawn Has Already Arrived

The sun is rising, and with it comes the quiet rehearsal of the words you will say tomorrow. You are practicing an apology for existing in a way that required them to look twice.

You are smoothing down the edges of your soul so you do not cast a shadow they might find uncomfortable. But the light does not apologize for shining.

It simply rises. It does not ask permission to illuminate the room.

It does not whisper sorry for being bright. The father saw the son while he was still a long way off, and he ran before the speech could even begin.

The embrace came first. The welcome was already waiting.

You do not need to earn the right to take up space here. The light that lives inside you was placed there on purpose.

It is not a mistake to be corrected. It is the very thing that makes you visible.

Stop rehearsing the sorry. The dawn has already arrived.