Growing Out and Up and Again

i. 
my hair's getting long again,
long enough to braid.
long enough for those wavy lengths,
waves i used to hate.

a year ago i might've cried,
seeing this face to face.
too much to bear
in the wrong body, 
wrong face.

a month ago i might've lied,
telling myself it's (not) okay.

and today i stand,
wondering if all that hate
dug a hole to make way
for flowers to spring up from the decay

i used to take the bait
(drowning under suffocating waves) 
between worlds,
between words,
I'm   t   o  r  n.

my hair's getting long again,
long enough to braid.
long enough for those wavy lengths,
waves i cherish today.

I am more than what society's placed on my plate,
more than so-called fate-
I am still wholly me,
a mosaic in the making. 

I am taking what's torn and
I am reborn.