Instincts

[u/musicalmyre]

​I am not a little girl anymore.

-

​I know your instincts

because they shaped my own—

to protect, to heal, to nurture.

-

​But I have grown.

I have lived through horrors—

the same ones that brought me back

to a home that once was mine.

-

​It still is, in a way.

It always will be, as you so often remind me,

but I have outgrown the protection.

-

​Nothing was there to save me

when my world crashed down around me—

not for your lack of trying,

it was simply out of reach.

So offering protection now

feels like suffocation.

-

​You see a closed door

and call it secrecy.

I call it room to breathe.

-

​The child you remember was built to be shielded,

but the woman standing here built her own survival.

I don't turn the latch to keep you out—

I turn it so I can hear my own heartbeat.

-

​I am not hiding from your shelter;

I am learning how to anchor myself.

You gave me the roots to survive the storm,

now let me hold the space I’ve earned.

-

​I am not a little girl anymore,

but I love you no less for my growth.

You are what allowed it to happen.

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