I Bloom Where I'm Loved Poem by WIN VENTURA

I spent too many seasons
watering places
that gave me nothing back.
Too many days
trying to earn warmth
from hearts that stayed cold.

I bent myself smaller,
quieter,
easier to love.
Yet no matter how much
I changed,
I never truly grew there.

Then life whispered
a gentle truth—
A flower never blooms
because it begs for sunlight.
It blooms
because the sunlight
finds it.

Now I choose differently.
I stay where kindness lives.
I stay where my laughter
isn't too loud.
Where my silence
doesn't need explaining.

I no longer force my roots
into barren ground.
I no longer apologize
for needing light.

And slowly...
Petal by petal...
I am become
the woman
I was always meant to be.

Not everywhere.
Not for everyone.
I bloom where I'm loved.

By: WIN VENTURA