Like a butterfly who misses the many legs it once had
Back then when it could only crawl and climb
Like a flower that misses itself at its shortest stem
When it was just a seedling right before its prime

There are moments when nostalgia hits
Too much that it makes me unaligned
I ponder if I should regress to who I once was
Only to go against my evolutionary design

Or perhaps I just miss knowing I was loved
So I question whether again, I would find
Acceptance and belonging with fond memories
With the current identity I now reside

I could go back and make things simple again
Go along with what I’ve been assigned
It's been done before, a path predetermined
With the name I was given at the starting line

When I consider such a thought I feel much resistance
As though I am forfeiting without much of a fight
I feel caged, suffocated with helplessness
If I had to persist in a life limited to foresight

Know where I've been so I know where I’m going
Where is the bridge where these two paths combine?
To keep treading forward as I shed all that is unbecoming
Becoming a way of being I can personally identify