The world will ask who you are
before you even
know the question.

If you speak too little
they will name you.
If you know too much
they will leave.

But every irritation
is a mirror—
a lesson dressed in skin.

We are not
our past.
We are the becoming—
in the fire,
in the fall,
in the choice
to rise.

Make light
from your darkness.
Make meaning
from your mistakes.
This is the only fate
you get to write.