They say beauty fades,
but what they don’t say
is how strength quietly rises
in the spaces where things fall away.

I look in the mirror
and see someone new, 
not less, not broken, 
just true.

My spirit remains.
I’ve learned to smile
through the ache and the change.

This face?
It tells stories now,
of healing, of holding on,
of learning how
to love what the world may overlook.

And slowly, gently,
I do.

Because this is still me.
And that’s more than enough.