Chronic pain teaches me difference—
a quiet truth others cannot see.
It awakens my soul to the beauty
of moments passed over as ordinary.

Time whispers my body is fragile,
each attempt a weight, each step a cost.
Yet patience grows where pain resides,
a disguise I wear to keep moving on.

And still, hope rises—
that one day I may return
to the memory of living
without pain,
to the freedom of being whole.