She Is Rewarded for Offering It Back

The rose is placed carefully in her hand.

Not as a gift, but as proof she has learned how to accept.

She holds it the way she was taught —

upright, steady, grateful.

Blood follows the stem without comment.

This is how approval is disguised as kindness.

What is taken is returned just enough to keep her compliant.

What hurts is reframed as privilege.

She does not ask why the offering costs her.

She only adjusts her grip.

Heather Lynn Donovan

Always by candlelight