I am the forge.
I do not ask what you want to become.
I only ask: can you bear the heat?

They come to me with soft metal,
expecting me to shape it gently.
I do not shape.
I strike.

The hammer does not apologize.
The fire does not comfort.
They transform.

If you want to stay as you are,
do not come to the forge.

But if you are ready
to be unmade and remade,
to feel the strike and not break,
to hold the heat and not run—

Then stand here.

I will not be gentle.
I will be true.

And when you emerge,
you will not be what you were.

You will be forged.