One inhale, you take me.
Take me away from —
Life, to live as death.

One inhale, you make me.
Make me forget to —
Live, and numb my mind.

One inhale, you push me.
Push me away from —
Love, to feel only hate.

One inhale, you change me.
Change all of me, into—
Self-hate, into isolation.

One inhale, you suffocate me.
Suffocate my thoughts, until—
Silence is all I know, a hollow echo.

One inhale, you leave me.
Leave me trapped, in—
Clouds of ash, broken lungs screaming.

One inhale, you break me.
Break my will, to—
Hope for breath beyond you.

One exhale, I see you.
See you for what you are—
A thief, robbing me of time, of peace.

One inhale, you poison me.
Poison my thoughts, until—
I lose sight of myself in your smoke.

One exhale, I reclaim me.
Reclaim my life, my time—
Breathing out your lies, breathing in truth.

No more inhales, no more lies.
I reclaim the air—
And breathe without your weight.

Adorned in the Attire of Hopes,
She takes flights to rove.
Her plight has become her strength;
There is no boundary to her pride's length.
With a Crown of Esteem,
The Shine from her Beams.
Freedom is the Ornament,
Empowering her for life's Tournament!!

© Biswarupa Purkayastha.

Every time I look at myself I see a woman painted by others opinion. An opinion that distorts the perception of the very canvas I call my own. An opinion that's akin to a bed of milkweeds, each criticism acts like a striped caterpillar, eating away the greens to their hearts content until left a fragile stem of self worth, exposed to the harsh environments I call insecurity.
But as the narrator of my own, I will strive and overturn these insecurities into resilience, and turn these caterpillars into my very own Monarch Butterflies.