To the Girl Who Carries the World, This is a sanctuary for the girl who learned to be a fortress before she learned to be a child. It is a collection of poetic whispers for the ones who have spent their lives as the steady hands in every storm, the eldest daughters who became the silent architects of a peace they never got to inhabit. If you have spent years stitching together the lives of others while your own heart frayed at the edges, let these pages be the place where you finally set the heavy things down. This book is a gentle reckoning with the "strong" woman you were forced to become and a love letter to the soft woman you are allowed to be. It is a reminder that you are not a bridge for everyone to walk across, nor a mirror meant only to reflect another's light. You have carried the world on your shoulders for long enough; it is time to realize that the world can spin without your help, but you cannot live without your own soul. Open these pages and breathe, not for them, but for you. It is time to stop being a pillar and start being a person.