Embers of My Own Skin

Mixed media on paper, 15" x 11", 2025 

"I am not the blaze anymore, but the embers,

warm, enduring.

My healing came quietly,

wrapped in still mornings

and gentle hands of time.

Strength lives here too,

in the softness

that does not flinch.

I do not need to conquer-

only to belong to my own skin."