Before We Were Innocent

by Ella Berman

I’ve taught myself to be smaller like this—less reckless than I was made.

I’ve never truly been shy, only wary, only watchful.

life is about being fucking terrified and still showing up and turning yourself inside out because you know that loving someone gives them the power to break you, but that maybe, one day, you might just be lucky enough to stumble across another human who recognizes you exactly as you are and who will spend the rest of their life learning how to strike a match to fill your darkness.