Have I lost myself
or have I kept me hidden?

Am I protecting the girl who is afraid to be hurt
or the girl who has taken the biggest beating?

She screams back at me in the mirror,
demanding redemption for her soul.

She wants to be honored,
to be shown,
to be convinced.

She wants to know if all this waiting is worth it,
I want more than anything to prove it to her.

I want to be strong for her,
she deserves it,
she deserves more than I could ever do for her.

I stand in the hot sun,
my feet baking on the cracks of sandstone.

The oceans have dried out,
the wind has ceased,
I'm only left with the memories of who I once was.

Her cage lays here.

Its bars covered in thorns and nails,
and covered in dull rust.

Yet she angrily screams,
her voice hoarse with rage,
cracking with the tears that spill down her cheeks.

Summoning confidence that I feared had left me,
I pull out the key.

Do I release her,
and renew the vast forests of my hear,
or suffer while others benefit from my misery?

Her lust for the key is palpable,
saliva dripping from her bleeding lips.

I go to turn,
her savage nature frightening my fragile conscious.

Instead of her normal snarl,
I hear a gentle whisper,
that caresses my shoulder.

**I'll Wait