I am me and not what others see me

I was confident, with a glowing smile,
A passion inside that could light up a mile.
I made everyone around me shine,
Focused, steady, with dreams to define.

Like a stream pulling fish with ease,
I knew I’d achieve greatness, piece by piece.
From the ground up, I’d build my way,
Until someone came and led me astray.

They made me question what I’d become,
Small and unsure, my thoughts would succumb.
How strange it feels to think you’re free,
Yet chained by what others want you to be.

I lost myself, or so I thought,
In battles my heart and mind had fought.
Something unchangeable, something innate,
A struggle I couldn’t fully escape.

But now I see what was hidden inside—
The real me, no longer denied.
The one who smiled and spread delight,
Who held his dreams in the darkest night.

The person who helped me see this truth
Is gone, yet left behind their proof.
And now I know, clear as can be,
I am me and not what others see me.

It calls, sharp as a crack in the sky—

is it a hand reaching to lift me,
 or my own voice,
 drowning in its own echo?

The wound hums with the weight of rescue,
 but I wonder if I’ve always been

the one to pull myself under.

I drag this weight,
 each step a crime against the ground.

Am I a ghost,

too solid to slip away,

or an animal,
 broken, bent,
 flesh tight with the burden of living?

I cannot call myself human—

humans ache with love,

but I am jagged,
 a wound that won't heal.

Too wild to tame,

too hollow to be held.

Time to vanish—

to dissolve into night,

my absence felt by none.

Unloved, I have felt,  
You love me now, but would you  
Call me your daughter?

There’s no point in searching for it,
we’ll find it one day, understood.
We must understand ourselves,
so that we can be who we are.

Sleepless, the days stretch long and wide,
A distant verity softly wakes.
For moments bright, still far away.
They live within me, hidden deep inside.
I wonder, was that me I saw?
Who was I, was it me?
Mistakes I thought were right,
Yet I wait, unsure of why.
Is it love I'm waiting for?
A better self, hidden in the dark?
Loving even when it’s hard,
Alone, lost in quiet thoughts.
In a room, I drift and sigh,
Chasing fleeting moments by.
Longing deep, I fall, undone,
Reaching for love, hard-won.
A castle rises on a hill,
In my mind, roses bloom still.
A beautiful image I once knew.