Poem inspired by song free from the movie K-POP demon hunters I used to whisper to the silence, Afraid the silence might speak back. Built a home from broken glass Called it shelter, called it “me.” But even mirrors lie eventually. I wore my name like an apology. Bit down my truths ‘til they tasted like shame. Sang lullabies to my demons Just to keep them tame. But then You walked in like a cracked-open sky. Didn’t bring light, You brought room to breathe. You didn’t fix me You faced me. You sat with the wreckage like it was art, Like every shattered part still had a place. You said: *"What if this isn’t where it ends"* *"What if the wound doesn’t mean you're weak?"* *"What if healing isn't pretty, but real?"* And suddenly I wanted more Than surviving in silence. So now I walk Not unbroken, but untangled. With ashes in my hair and thunder in my lungs. My past? It floats. No longer drags. And you? You don’t hold me down. You hold me up. Like breath. Like gravity with a purpose. We’re not perfect. We’re not saints. But we’re free Because we stopped pretending not to feel. Because love, The kind that stays after the breakdown, That kind... is what makes the chains let go.