Therapy Bits

I love my smile—
not for how it gleams in photographs
or curves just right beneath the sun—
but for how it rises
in the quiet moments
no one else sees.

It has weathered storms,
quivered on the edge of breaking,
yet still unfurled—
like light through a cracked window,
like the stubborn bloom of a flower
in concrete.

It is not perfect—
slightly crooked,
a little tired some days—
but it is mine.
It knows how to speak
before I do.
It knows when to soften
the silence in a room.

My smile has stitched joy
into ordinary days—
the smell of coffee,
the warmth of a friend’s hand,
the sound of rain tapping
against a windowpane.

I love my smile
because it remembers—
laughter shared,
tears held back,
the slow healing
of becoming whole again.

It is the map of where I’ve been,
the promise of where I’m going.
I wear it
not as a mask—
but as a mirror
of all the light
I’ve kept alive.

PROMPT #550 – FEATURE PRESENTATION – POETIC BLOOMINGS