Fiercesome alchemy

Don’t ask me to play small

to act tiny sized in order to fit your idea of me

or belong to a world that has no room

for heart’s that are giant sized

and won’t stop beating out a strong rhythm of truth

that scares the bejesus out of liars

Don’t tell me to cut off some of my hard edges

to make me soften the truth of what I see and feel

in a world where

such things

are considered a sign of madness

Because you know

All the times I played small or cut myself to pieces

or was forced to swallow my truth

left me breathless and nauseous

having to deny my hunger

while considering it a curse

made me nearly choke on crumbs

mistaken for food

and really

my soul

is not made for this

and I have lied too long

It is not the way I want to live anymore

For I have realised

There are those of us who burn

and we are not meant only to smoulder

or become a pile of ash

Because burning is both a birthing

And a transformation

One we must endure

In order to emerge

As tempered gold

Formed in the firey crucible

Of the suffering soul’s

Fiercesome alchemy