“Reflections of a Scholar”

“Reflections of a Scholar”

I look in the mirror.

Not the lies, not the fear.

Not “You’ll never graduate.”

Seriously, that lie needed remedial tutoring.

I see focus.

I see fire.

I see late nights with books stacked high,

coffee cups forming small monuments to persistence.

And maybe… a little sass I forgot I had

while juggling exams and deadlines.

“I am enough!”

 “I am enough!”

I am not what I doubted.

I am the essays I finished.

I am the exams I passed.

I am the degree I earned.

I am what I choose.

I am what I become.

And yes…

the mirror now owes me an apology

for every “never enough” it ever whispered.