rooted in ash,
with wildfire
quietly burning
beneath soft petals

a rose set alight,
with leaves
that never begged
for rain

a quiet kind of burning
that never asked
to be put out

some passersby
picked the flower,
held her,
tried to care

some passersby
picked her
only to
give her away

but many walked
right over her
as if she were
just an empty flowerbed

as if she weren’t
a pretty flower
as if they didn’t see
the thorns
or know that petals bruise
when held too hard

as if softness
was made to be claimed
not protected

still,
she learned
how to bloom

she stood upright
in cracked earth
with broken stems
and blistered leaves

with fire
in her roots
with ashes
in her veins

reaching
always
for the light

she knew
some blooms open
only in harsh sun
some roots
push through broken ground
just to feel it

there were nights
she curled inward
like a rose
in frost

still,
she rose.

because some flowers still bloom
in places no one believed
anything could grow

and now
she is blooming
not despite the wildfire
but because of it

i don’t have a bruise
not now
but my skin remembers

because once,
it rooted itself there
dark and sudden
from nothing at all

or maybe something small
that shouldn’t have hurt
but did

and since then
i’ve learned
not all pain
leaves a mark
but it lingers
just the same

now i know
that pain doesn’t always
ask permission
and not all wounds
warn you first

but now
i freeze

before hands even reach
before words even fall
like muscle memory
but for fear

and now
i tense
when i shouldn’t

i flinch
before anything happens

i wait
for the hit
even when no one’s swinging

because once,
he came without warning
and now
my body remembers
even when my mind
tries to forget

because once
was enough.

no harm
just shadows
and the ache
of almost

because healing
was never
watching the bruise fade
it was learning
that the skin can clear
and still wince
at nothing

still twitch
at the memory
of blue

still ache
where there is no mark

just learning
how to live
with the fear
of it all
returning

i flinch
at nothing

because once
there was something
and it stayed

i hold still
for what might not come

i tense
for what might not come

because it once did
and that was
enough.

green
means something else now

i used to call it comfort
the way i reached for
a green that didn’t grow anything
just softened the edges
and blurred the ache

until fullness
felt empty

until the chaos
drowned itself in silence

until even the storm
learnt to whisper

until emptiness
felt full

i didn’t call it
escape
not then
just quiet
just something
to get through the day

but even quiet
can rot the roots

i stayed in that winter
longer than i needed to
numbed the ache
until i forgot
what it was like
to feel anything grow

but now
green
means something else

it means life
pushing through
thin cracks
in dry ground

it means i don’t run
when the light comes in

that i can sit still
without reaching for a way out

that something in me
is waking up
and wants to stay

not a bloom
not yet
but maybe
one day

i never told you
how soft you felt
in a world that never let me rest.
how your voice
felt like a doorway
back to myself.

i wanted to say it
a thousand times
in a thousand ways
but each one
felt too loud
for something this quiet.

because i don’t want to lose
what we are
by reaching too hard
for what we could be.
being near you
even like this
feels steadier
than the best of
what i’ve known.

once,
you looked at me
like the softness
was something
you’d always known was there,
hidden in the static.

and when you told me
you believed
in the kindness
beneath my mess,
your words stayed
longer than you’ll ever know.

maybe one day
i’ll find the stillness
to say aloud
what has only lived in quiet;

that something in me
settled
every time you stayed.
not love,
not yet

just the way your presence
makes me softer
without asking me to be.

just the way your presence
makes the world
less loud
and me
less afraid.

i started solving equations
because they didn’t ask questions.
no why, no how come,
just: isolate x.
balance both sides.
make it neat.

in algebra,
there’s always a method.
expand the brackets,
simplify the mess.
rearrange until it makes sense.

simultaneous questions
felt easier than real ones—
two unknowns,
but at least they listened.
at least they resolved
if you followed the rules.

quadratics fall apart and still come back
to a single solution.
i envied that.

and if i got the answer wrong,
at least i could circle it,
mark where it went wrong,
and fix it.
it wouldn’t be perfect
but at least i could
correct my errors.

in maths,
there’s always a way back.

but in life,
the mistakes don’t show up clean.
there’s no neat solution,
no second chance to fix what’s broken.

so for now,
i’ll solve problems
that i can actually solve,
and fix the things
i can control.