THE THING WE TEACH THE MOON TO HIDE

The moon has scars, yet owns the night.The stars burn out, yet gift us light.So why do you hate the parts you hide,When they're the reason you're one of a kind?Who taught you that broken meant unworthy?That tears made a soul less beautiful?That to be loved, you must arrive unburdened,With every wound dressed up as wonderful?Who convinced you that your darkest hourWas proof that you were made of lesser things?Even the earth must break to grow a flower,And winter kills the leaves, not what spring brings.Look at the ocean. It swallows the storms,Yet no one calls it weak for being deep.It carries shipwrecks beneath its calm,And holds a thousand secrets it can't keep.The sky wears grey without an apology.The rain falls freely, never asking why.And every evening, without shame or ceremony,The sun surrenders just to let the moon rise.Yet you stand before your own reflection,Counting every flaw as evidence of sin.You have mistaken your imperfectionsFor reasons no one should ever let you in.You hide the laugh that sounds a little strange,The dreams you fear are foolish to pursue,The chapters of your life you'd rearrange,The person you were before you knew.You bury memories beneath your skin,And wear your silence like a tailored suit.You smile so well, they never look within;They praise the tree, but never ask about its roots.But listen...You are not less beautiful because you've been hurt.A scar is not a stain upon your skin.It is the place where something tried to end you,And somehow, you kept living through it.Your past is not a verdict on your future.Your worst mistake is not your truest name.You are not every cruel thing someone told you,Nor must you spend your life proving them ashamed.And perhaps the strangest thing about being humanIs how we worship beauty from afar,Yet when we find the cracks within ourselves,We treat them like the breaking of a star.We love the moon for all its silver glory,Though shadows carve their valleys through its face.We love the stars without demanding permanence,Though some have died before their light reached our place.So why must you be flawless to be cherished?Why must your soul be spotless to be seen?Why do you offer everyone compassion,Then punish yourself for being anything but clean?Maybe healing isn't becoming someoneWho has never known the ache of falling apart.Maybe healing is looking at your ruinsAnd realizing they still belong to your heart.Maybe courage isn't standing without trembling.Maybe faith is walking while afraid.Maybe beauty isn't never being broken,But refusing to believe that brokenness makes you a mistake.One day, I hope you meet yourself with kindness.Not the edited version you display,But the child who cried when no one listened,And the grown soul who learned to hide the pain away.I hope you stop apologizing for your softness,For the things you feel too deeply to explain.I hope you learn that even the gentlest flowersMust endure the violence of the rain.And when the mirror feels like an accusation,When every flaw becomes a reason to retreat,Remember: even heaven has its imperfections,And still, we look up every night to meet it.The moon has scars, yet owns the night.The stars burn out, yet gift us light.And maybe you were never meant to beA life untouched by darkness or defeat.Maybe all this time, you've been searching for perfection,When the world has been asking you for something true.Maybe the parts you hide in desperationAre the very parts that make the world more you.So let them see the cracks.Let them hear your trembling voice.Let them meet the soul beneath the armour,The one who stayed when leaving was the easier choice.You do not have to turn your pain to poetry.You do not have to make your suffering shine.You are allowed to heal without becomingA beautiful explanation for a difficult time. Just live.Just grow.Just be. Even when you cannot love yourself completely,Leave a little room for who you might become.Because the night does not ask the moon to be unscarred.The stars do not apologise for how they burn.And perhaps the greatest tragedy isn't that we have flaws,but that we spend our whole lives trying to hidethe very things that provewe were here.And perhaps the greatest freedom...is finally looking at yourselfwith all your broken pieces showing,and decidingyou were never somethingthat needed to be fixedbefore you deserved to be loved.

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