washing your face in the sink and staring at your own red eyes in the mirror, rehearsing the exact tone of voice you'll use to say 'i'm fine' when you walk back out

No Mask Needed Before the Light

The water runs cold over your hands, but the heat in your eyes remains. You stare into the mirror at the red evidence of a night that refused to be quiet.

You are rehearsing the tone. Practicing the cadence of 'I'm fine' until it sounds like the truth.

But the light does not need your performance. It saw you before you even dried your face.

It knows the weight you are trying to hide behind those three words. You do not have to carry the mask back into the room.

The love that found you in the dark is the same love that waits for you in the light—without the act, without the armor, just as you are.

Drawing from

Luke 7:47, Gospel of Thomas 51

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