I Return to Myself

By Jackie A.

The noise is loud.
The stares are sharp.
The hate hangs heavy.

I close my eyes
and call in sunlight warming my face,
a cool breeze rinsing my spirit clean.

I breathe deep
and drift toward the birdsong,
the trees exhaling,
the earth remembering me.

I settle.
Nature steadies me
the way it always has.

When I open my eyes
to a sea of angry white faces,
I choose to see them differently—
not as danger,
but as weather.
A storm passing through.
Something to endure,
not fear.

I return to myself.
I am breath.
I am here.

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