The Day I Stood in a World of Peace

You gently placed your hand over mine, which held a flower petal.

After looking at that hand, I look up at your side.

My gaze meets your calm eyes.

"It's okay, I am here."

Hearing those words, just as you always say them, I feel relieved and my tension fades away.

I wonder how much I had been living with such strain before I met you.

I carried everything I could, and I only became good at cutting things off.

Even so, the existence I tried to protect would not accept me.

My birth parent ended up draining my love dry.

He quietly accepted me, exhausted as I was.

He asks for nothing, makes me carry nothing, just stays by my side and smiles gently.

"It's okay, I am here."

With just that, I felt that I was allowed to be here.

I realized that love is something you can receive without desperately seeking it.

I realized that love is something that is born without having to desperately give it.

You taught me that.

I want you to be there tomorrow, and I want you to smile.

I want you to say "It's okay" tomorrow, too.

With just that, I can stand in a world of peace.

I gaze at the flower petal in my hand.

“...I will pass on the same words to the child who will be born, just as you did to me.”

He smiled, looking a little embarrassed.

“...Yes.”

Petals were blown by the wind, dancing into the sky.

Next year, let's come to see the flowers five minutes ahead.

......The three of us.

Thank you for reading. This work is a submission for the Shirokuma Literature Club project.