Brave, with a tiger heart

And like a tiger who has been wounded and trapped in a cage for so long.
She is tentative. She doesn't quite believe it yet.
Like a tiger whose cage door has been gently, slowly opened bit by bit.
With each tear she has shed, each truth she has shared, each time she has held herself through the fear.
The door opened a little bit more.
It let in some light.
And with the light came hope, yet she didn't dare trust. She couldn't.
She had been inside the cage for so long.
Then one day she opened her eyes to realise
The door was fully open.
Her brave tiger heart had finally got what she had longed for.
Freedom.
And still she was so unsure, she didn't believe it. She couldn't trust that it was safe.
So she took her time. A few steps out only to retreat back in.
'It's safe out there, I'm free' she kept reminding herself and so she will until her tiger heart believes it.
Until she trusts it, until her power fully returns and she finally knows there is nothing left to fear.
She is free.