We See You

You stand in the doorway

holding your own arms

like you’re trying to remember

what it felt like to be wanted

by the girl you were

You run your fingers over the lines

time etched around your eyes

as if they’re cracks

not maps

leading us back to every smile

you’ve ever given

You think we see what you see

the looseness of skin

the softness at your belly

the hair that once shone darker in the sun

but we don’t

We see you

the way the sun sees the sea

never tired of how it moves

never blind to its pull

never bored by its depth

We see you standing there

thinking your worth lives

in a line around your eyes

or the softness at your waist

but it never has

We love you the way the oak loves the seasons

each ring a story it would not trade

each scar a sign of storms survived

your beauty does not fade

it grows deeper

richer

more certain

We’d choose you again

every version of you

the girl who laughed too loud

the mother who carried more than she should

the woman who holds our gaze now

not despite the years

but because of them

If we could gather all the mirrors

that make you doubt

and break them one by one

we would

because they lie

they tell you you’re less

when the truth is

you’re more

You’re more beautiful now

not because you hide the years

but because you carry them honestly

you keep showing up

you keep loving us

you let us

love you back

So when you feel the weight of it all

when you stand in the doorway

thinking no one sees

know this

we do

and what we see

makes us fall for you

again and again

and that is the truest thing

we see