The Rose That Blooms in the Night

by Allie Michelle

Love Is Not If you want to alter the direction of your path for someone, it’s not love. If you want to change your values for someone, it’s not love. If you want to put your dreams on hold, compromise who you are, or swallow your truth for someone, it’s not love. It’s an unhealed part of you recognizing

Nice can be dishonest. It can be a “yes” when we really mean “no.” Nice can be the perfect bandage for our true feelings.

Kindness is different. Kindness takes strength. It takes honesty. Kindness will never ask you to sacrifice your integrity; it will hold you to it. When there has been wrongdoing, Nice will say, “It’s fine!”

Kindness will say, “This isn’t okay, and there needs to be a change, but I hold you with compassion and understanding.” Kindness knows the power in honesty and how enabling people strips us of that empowerment. Nice is taught, but kindness? Kindness is who we innately are at our core.

When your mind pulls you into the darkness of doubt, I hope you ignite the unlit wick of your heart. After all that life has thrown your way—the loss, the failure, the heartbreak—have you allowed the wildfire buried in your chest to be reduced to a

They never grip tightly to any outcome, knowing life always brings them what they need.

I walked a mile in my ancestors’ shoes And felt all my mother and her mother had been through Generations of women to be seen and not heard Our inherited beliefs told us to hustle for our worth Many lives had to be lived for me to be

As I become aware of my past trauma, I repair what has been torn These patterns end with me so my future daughter Does not have the same story to retell

“If it is levity that you seek, Unmask your sadness And you will find anger

“The problem is that most people forget they are wearing a mask to begin with.”

Make Peace with Your Pieces One day, she realized she could not outrun her shadow She brought it in front of her where she could see it “Why are you so dark?” she asked Her shadow replied, “Darkness is the truth you avoid, and It yearns for the light.” Though it was

painful to stand In front of a silhouette of her unhealed pieces She realized it was merely a part of her That she had not made peace with As she held herself in the love of her own arms Her shadow became a part of her, like The dusk of the setting sun melting into the night sky

There will come a time when we all must choose Between expressing ourselves And suppressing ourselves

Let Go Sometimes you don’t realize What you are holding on to Until you let it go

You are strong enough to forgive where others will simply resent You are strong enough to set boundaries where others will be walked on You are strong enough to be compassionate when others will simply judge You are strong

enough to embrace who you are where others will cover it up You are strong enough to be soft where others will let life harden them You are strong enough to love You are strong You are strong You are strong

Home Your mind is the house you live in But most people do not see it this way And so they chase the things they think they need to have Not realizing what you have can be lost in a moment But what you are can never be taken And so I ask you: Is your mind a palace or a prison?

I beg you to release your lion And claim the love that has always been here!

this thundering heartbeat reminds me what the word “alive” really means.

If woman is the moon And man is the sea No wonder he avoids her love Her energy is like a magnet That creates chaos within his tides Until the order of his waves No longer make sense Oh, but we forget happiness

Allow him to become a memory He was a part of you that needed to be felt But your paths are now on different trajectories To hold on would be to wear the mask of your old self Smile at his memory, then let it go Allow space for new

love to grow One day you may circle back around And laugh at the days when you both wondered When you would feel found You are love hiding from yourself And you looked for it in him So of course it fell apart! Didn’t anyone tell you love is found within?

Find the love to let them go For that is the same love That will set you free

We do not choose who we fall in love with But if they are not ready to meet you on the edge Let them go and do not try to fix their broken wings They must fall in love with their own beating heart Before they can finally fly with you And I promise one

You will meet someone who leaps without question

They understand true love lies in surrender

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, One day I will learn to stand proud and tall, I will see my curves as poetry wrapped in skin The first thing I notice will be the wild soul within Mirror, mirror, on the wall, Why did I ever try

and change myself at all? The standard of beauty I try to meet Is a waste of energy when my value runs more than skin-deep Mirror, mirror, on the wall, I will learn self-love even if I stumble and fall

I Would Have Loved You I would have loved you, In another life, when the time was right I would have loved you, Under the cover of the night, when you let down all your walls I would have loved you, But in order to love, you have to let

And it is true, love can hurt But I will never close off to pain For this is life’s greatest pleasure

But an honest human is capable of an honest love.

you are the knight on the horse and the hero in the cape you’ve been waiting

That instrument you call a heart Have you played it lately? Have you created music For your loved ones to dance to? Or is your instrument a little out of tune Gathering dust? I know how your starving heart gets When you live in a world without music

And it’s all waiting for you. Life is waiting for you. Set aside your expectations and go explore it.

Before the One When you think you have found the one And it feels close to love But not quite right Let them go That is the one before the one

If you fail doing what you love, It is not failure at all

Love so that you can let go. Love so that you can truly live.

True gratitude means participating with your whole heart in whatever moment

It means leaning into the unfolding process, and having the courage to not need all of the answers.

We fall in love with who we need to learn from The one who will challenge and change us

But my heart has always held the reins in this body of mine So I let her run

me wild with the experience of loving you

Your purpose will finally have time to catch up with you

So turn off your phone Put your hands on your heart

And give yourself some room I promise that is more real than the content you consume

So remember that when your heart cracks in your chest, it is not broken. It is letting the light in.

Doubt wears the mask of logic, telling you it has all been done

love simply to love. You deserve to feel free, and I mean truly free. Free of expectations, free of taking anything personally, free

Love and freedom is your nature, and when you start to embody that, something amazing happens.

But perhaps the thought of feeling Is too much