I am Fire

You say I am using him,

As if love can be measured in dollars.

I laugh at your small vision,

For every ounce I gave, every tear I shed,

Every sleepless night I bore

Was mine, freely, fiercely, undeniably.

Your whispers cannot touch that truth.

You call me careless, unworthy, false,

Yet you do not see the work behind the life I built,

The courage it takes to rise each day

While betrayal lurks in shadows.

I am the mother. I am the shield.

I am the fire that burns brighter than your lies.

You try to manipulate, to divide,

Planting doubts in his mind,

Hoping he will see me as you want him to see.

But a mother’s love is not so easily shaken.

Your control is a thin veil

Over the reality you cannot grasp:

I am real. I am steadfast. I am unbroken.

You tell him I am lazy, that I do not care,

Yet it was I who labored while he slept,

I who worked while you whispered,

I who planned and nurtured and loved

Even as your judgment hung over us.

Your words fall like leaves in the wind;

I remain rooted, towering, unshaken.

You claim I am a liar,

That my heart is not true.

But truth is mine,

And love is mine,

And courage is mine,

And no whisper of yours can change it.

You try to rewrite history,

To make him believe what never was,

To tell him I was unfit,

To make me a shadow of myself.

But I see your fear, your envy, your attempt to control.

I turn it into armor. I turn it into fire.

Every insult, every rumor, every word

Only makes me stronger.

You say I am weak.

You say I am insignificant.

You say I do not deserve love.

But I am more than your judgments,

More than your envy, more than your lies.

I am the hands that built a life,

The heart that bore love,

The voice that will always rise.

You try to speak over me,

To drown me in whispers, in shadows.

But I am a storm. I am a beacon.

I am the protector of my child,

The guardian of my truth.

You cannot divide what is true.

You cannot shadow what is strong.

You cannot diminish what is pure.

I am the mother.

I am the fighter.

I am the truth.

And when you speak,

When you cast your fears as if they were weapons,

I see them for what they are:

Air, empty and powerless against the mountain I have become.

I will not bend.

I will not falter.

I will not beg for your approval.

I will rise, louder than your whispers,

Brighter than your envy,

Stronger than your manipulation.

I am armor.

I am fire.

I am the life I carried,

The love I gave,

The strength I hold.

I am unshakable.

I am unstoppable.

I am untouchable.

And when the world sees me,

When my child knows me,

When truth stands naked before lies,

You will see:

I have survived your whispers,

I have outgrown your shadows,

I have triumphed over your manipulation,

And I will remain—

Unbroken.