To the One Who Didn't Know

You didn't know, not because you were blind but because you were hoping. Because you believed in softness. In prayers over dinner. In the way they looked at you when no one else did. Because you thought love would never come unless it came wrapped in sacrifice. You thought shrinking was what made someone stay. You confused survival for loyalty. You confused ache for proof. You wanted to be chosen so badly that you stopped asking if you were safe. You gave the benefit of the doubt until you had no doubt left to give. But I see you. The way you kept choosing tenderness even as your body screamed. The way you turned silence into reason. The way you prayed harder instead of leaving sooner. You didn't know. And that doesn't make you foolish. It makes you faithful. Still, now you know. And that knowing will never again cost you your voice. You thought love meant pain but the ache was just silence dressed up in perfume. "You are allowed to want warmth without having to bleed for it."