a love letter to myself

Tears of Glass

I am only now, after all this time, starting to see it —
the quiet, unbreakable beauty in me.
not just on the surface, but deep within,
in the hidden, fragile places of my heart,
in the way I ache to give, to open my hands,
and offer whatever light I hold.

How I long to share even the smallest sparks I find
with others who need it more than I, in a world so often shadowed.
And isn’t it something? After all the bruises, still tender,
after all the world has taken, the scars left unseen,
after every night I’ve broken feeling the loneliness of wounds—
this light inside me remains, alive and glowing,
still willing to love.
to reach, to lift, to heal.

But I will not let it burn for anyone who cannot see its worth.

I whisper, protect this heart, Francesca,
when the world presses in too close, too rough,
when it spits out hurt from those who haven’t learned
what love truly means.
guard it from the hands that cannot be gentle,
from those who mistake my openness for weakness.