You are breathing fire,

a phoenix risen from the embers

reborn and yet the same as always;

strong and dark and clever and

good.

You are breathing fire

because it has been spreading in your lungs

a small spark planted there when you were born,

feeding on all the small and big injustices that you’ve endured

and picking up white hot rage over the years.

Now, at 31, you are a dragoness,

no longer afraid to take up the space you deserve

and making yourself known to anyone who has ears to hear you

breathing fire and

talking soot,

roaring sparks and

spewing heat.