I Chose Peace

Looking back,

the warnings

were never hidden.

I painted them over

with hope,

calling them misunderstandings,

calling them hard seasons,

calling them anything

except what they were.

Again.

And again.

Every time I believed

this time will be different,

another piece of that hope

fell quietly to the ground.

I spent years

trying to build a bridge

to someone

who never stopped

setting it on fire.

I stretched myself

farther than I should have—

forgiving,

understanding,

waiting,

making room

for storms

that were never mine to carry.

I bent.

I did not break.

There is a difference.

People mistake resilience

for permission

to keep hurting you.

They see soft hearts

and assume

they have no limits.

Mine does.

The night everything unraveled,

I realized

peace is not found

by surviving another battle.

Peace is found

by refusing

to keep fighting

the same war.

You did not destroy me.

You only showed me

where my boundaries

had been waiting

to be honored.

I still believe in love.

I still believe in kindness.

But trust

is no longer given

because someone shares my blood.

It is earned

by those

who protect my peace,

not those

who repeatedly ask me

to sacrifice it.

I walked through fire

trying to save

what was never mine to rescue.

This time,

I walked through the flames

to save myself.

And that

is not giving up.

That is finally

coming home.