The need to be understood can be compared an unceasing itch or an executioners hood
Holding me hostage to self-deprecation
Leaving me feeling so empty and vacant
But when I stop placing value on the perception of others, I learn to accept critics as sisters and brothers
Whether you love me or hate me, I'm here till the end
Just being myself with no need to pretend
And just being me is so very fulfilling
I feel more alive, and honest and giving

I gotta learn to love me for all that I am
For all that I'm not
With all that I have

I gotta learn to trust me
For what I am doing
For who I am now and for what I am pursuing

Cuz one day I'll need to let me
Let me just fade
Into oblivion
Where my body decays

The process of becoming other than,
  the shedding of the old by way of time
  the hands upon the clock traverse their span,
  the ever fleeting moment reigns, sublime.

The emptiness of all objective forms,
  the rushing river, never stepped in twice,
  the reconfiguration of all norms,
  the virtues of lost ages seen as vice,

The elements converge and then react,
  the caterpillars weave themselves cocoons,
  the world amends its stock of gathered facts,
  the moths emerge, in flight to greet the moon,
  
   The firmament, destroyed and rearranged,
     the universal essence, found in change.

I rationalize out of fear and shame
Saying love can be a game

She doesn't light a flame inside
But she looks every bit of fine

Maybe I can trick myself
Relationships are good for health

She's nothing like me but people change
Maybe we'll become the same  

But she does not think for herself
She accepts the truths of someone else

She lacks a passion, flame and creed
That I believe all people need

To lie to her would not be fair
I must break her heart because I care