Where Light Begins

To love is to step softly

into the hidden world of another,

without pretending to know their pain.

It is to hold our words

like water in our hands,

knowing that a single word

can become a caress or a wound.

It is choosing not to judge

what we have never experienced,

and listening to what silence

lacks the courage to say.

Every face carries a night

that other eyes cannot see;

therefore, kindness

is a quiet form of courage.

Leave no scars where you pass,

but leave a little light.

Perhaps this is what love means:

to pass through another’s life

with hands gentle enough

to break nothing.