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Identity.  
What are the things that make you, you?  
What are the things that make me, me?  
To wake up each day knowing that it is different from the last, but still I feel as if I am the person of yesterday.  
My eyes gazed into the ether and abyss stares back.  
My mind wanders around memories, nightmares, emotional relics, and there my faceless friends, fear, shame, and guilt.  
Nervous to be, anxious to act, paralyzed by my doubt, and to live is to be guided by pain.

Indifference and numbness passively guide me into tomorrow.  
Each night restless from the last, each second filled with invasive criticisms and judgements to affirm my parasitic existence.  
Lost and confused, I pick up pieces of pathetic me.  
Today, the day is bright but but my insides are filled with thunderous clouds, black, and grey.  
My body is arrested, my mind preoccupied with infinite scenarios of what if, corrections, discipline, and defeat.

Years have gone by, still I awake to the dull pain of being.  
Never did I understand what joy, laughter, humor, or happiness was for that matter and it has nothing to do with me and I had nothing to do with it.  
My attitude demure with confusion as what is right and what is wrong, forward is the only place to go, I move.  
Each morning white dawn breaking the sky, like smiles breaking the faces of people.  
My day begins with mending the memories, further into delusion, further into denial, and the façade hides my genuine me, I begin to countdown the seconds when I would need to trade one form of torture for another.  

Stress and anticipation overwhelm my realities that each day I wonder if today I might see blood flow instead of tears pouring, or feel the throbbing sting of parental love as a horse riding crop splits my back into two, then into pieces, perhaps the gentle touch of disappointment and neglect would bring mercy.  
My little self, frustrated with myself, loathe my little self, would begin to break from reality that is to dissociate myself from the things that evoke emotions, to feel is to hurt, to hurt is to suffer, and to suffer is to live.  

Each day I pick up the memories I left at the bus stop, either coming or going to go to school.  
Years had already gone by, emotions never realized, never affirmed, or never fully developed.  
It was okay see those around me fall victims to their own devices.  
I did not care that those who spoke about hair, here and there, that sensations from another were god sent.  
To listen to those three to four years ahead of me, as I quietly do my work so that I have none to do at home.  
The exploits of teenage boys and their pseudo ****** experiences, when an older man waits for me with **** in hand.  
To suffer is to live.

I wasn’t different nor was I special but always a little person with no identity except as an adult stuck in the body of child as a boy.  
Each day filled with chores, homework, ****, deceit, anxiety, and depression.  
Somedays I would move my skin over the iron ore of the wooden axe to remind myself that sharpness are the experiences of life.  
The sensation would inspire a perverted smile, almost a tickle, razors edge is a place where I dwell.  
Careful I am, I move further to away from me, I am without saving, without rescue, without forgiveness, and without humanity, fri-enemies and defeat keep me comfort as I waste away days in hopes of a harmless demise.  

I feel better.
Dear Little Lyle,
Please forgive me for the things I have done to you.  For too long I have been kept you hidden and protected and numb from the world.
I know I hurt you by keeping you away from all the beautiful things life has to offer.  I know you're afraid, scared, hurt, and injured by what I have done.
I kept you in darkness where nobody can see you, I kept you quiet so no one can hear you, I kept you bounded so you don't hurt yourself or others, I kept you alone so others don't have to bother you, hurt your, or make fun of you.  
I spoke to you before that it be okay but I was wrong I kept on hurting you, I lied to you, forced you to do things to you that injured you and hurt you.
I made you cry, I made you hurt, I made it so that i wanted to **** you, so you don't have to hurt anymore.
I am so sorry for almost taking your life, over and over and over again.  I know you were laying there whimpering, alone, and terrified.
I know you just wanted a hug and kind attention.
I am sorry for not giving that to you.
You just wanted a hug, a simple , "I Love you!", just a feeling of a little bit of okayness.
I know you're screaming, yelling, crying, hurting, all alone.
You just wanted someone to talk to, to play with, and run around the playground playing.
I am sorry I keep ****** you and hating you everyday.
I am so so so sorry. I am so sorry I keep lying to you and denying you any kind of kindness, love, and comfort.
Those people that hurt you, yelled at your, touched you, hit you, and made of your are now gone.
I am so sorry for trying to **** you everyday of every second, I am so sorry.  I know you want you just want a hug and someone to tell you the monsters and clowns are gone, they are, I know made it impossible to love me again, but please find it in your little heart, little hands, and little self to please forgive me and to love me again.
I didn't know what else to do but to hide you from all the monsters, pain, tears, and blood.
In the dark nobody could see you but me, I am sorry for keeping you there for so long.
It will be okay, you will be okay, all the monsters are gone.  You don't have to be afraid of me.  I am kind, gentle, fun, energetic, and helpful.
I am so sorry for hurting you, and for allowing others to hurt you so.  Please believe me when i say it will be okay, the monsters are gone, you don't have to hide anymore, you don't have to run away anymore.  Remember when we were little we'd always asked god for special powers, he gave them to me to protect you and keep you safe, but it was my fault for failing to do those things, but the monsters are gone.
The monsters are gone, the screaming, and hurting is gone.
We don't have to fight anymore.
You don't have to hide anymore.
You can come and play in the light and in the dark, nobody will hurt you.
Nobody will hurt you!
I will care for you, love you, and teach you.  
I will still protect you and make it safe and comfortable as much as possible.  It's okay, It's okay, the monsters are gone.

with love,

Lyle K. Barber
With each breath I breathe I challenge the status quo, be authentic, be imperfect, be honest.  With each heartbeat I challenge the concept of time, in perpetuity in this moment, blessed and sacred, the past, the future, and all experiences.  
With each step I challenge, the monotony, the indifferent, the cynic, be it by smiles, be it the silent observer, be it my open minded disposition.  
With each thought I challenge, pseudo-complexities, faux friends, false alliances, spiteful relatives, fake loyalists, and shady lovers, be like water, powerful, assertive, submissive, and passive.  
With each emotion I challenge, the indoctrinated, the subservient, the living dead, the disempowered, and the prosthleziers, by being kind, by expressing love, by displaying compassion and ceasing moments of opportunities.  
With each savory taste of sustenance I chew in amazement and marvel at the texture and the sensation of uami, be it decadence, be it bliss, be it hedonistic.
With each choice made, I celebrate my free will, with every decision, I honor my freedom I challenge the unseen prisons, the culture of maniacal psychopaths, and the assassination of the sacred and cultural genocide.
With my constitution, I challenge those that dare to live, to thrive, to love, to conquer, to ascend, and to create.

— The End —