Reflection

When I look in the mirror

What do I see?

Brown skin 

Bright eyes

Staring back at me

Success

A queen

An overcomer 

Wisdom in a gaze

I do not see a woman anywhere near my actual age

Until I look down deep into my eyes and view the stories

Of the past

Told and untold behind my stare

I do not look like where I’ve come from

despite the surface level scars now faded on my arms

When you look at me what do you see?

You cannot see the years of rage

The nights of toil, despair, and shame

You cannot see the soul-level scars

From wounds that only God could heal

You see the me that lies before you 

Is a whole person

And always has been 

Despite circumstance

I debunk the idea of being “broken” I am not a birds wing

I am more complex than that

You see I cannot be broken

I came from dust

Not glass

I was carefully knit together in my mother’s womb

And so, I cannot be broken 

merely unraveled and transformed into something new

You see the me that lies before you is transformed

A changed woman

Brown skin

Bright eyes

New

In all the ways that I am different

You see me

Scars and all

But new

You see me

Transformed into something new

Someone new

Gods child

Eves daughter

Brown skin

Bright eyes

I do not look like where I’ve been 

But I look forward to God promises

New

You see me

When I look in the mirror 

What do I see?

Gods Child

Hope staring back at me