I will never be the same,
After what I’ve been through.
What I have done,
I can never undo.
I will always be haunted by my shame,
And the life I left behind.
I will not be shaped by the past,
Nor controlled by fear.
I have been shamed.
I have been kicked and called names,
And I have been told I am not good enough.
The shame that I feel is a monster,
A beast with many heads and no face.
It follows me around wherever I go,
And when it catches up to me, it eats me whole.
It tears into my chest,
Ripping out my heart.
It crushes my body down to the tiniest morsel.
When it’s done with me,
There is nothing left of who I used to be.
I am destroyed by this monster’s touch;
It has no mercy for me at all.
But I will not be shamed again.
I will not be kicked or called names,
I will not be touted in front of the curtain,
Like a sideshow act.
Today, I draw the line.
I am the only person who can define me;
I will be determined and relentless;
I will not allow my history to determine who I am.
After so long,
too long,
I am awake.
No longer am I a prisoner to my mind.
—
This post was previously published on medium.com.
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Photo credit: Nicholas Kwok, courtesy of Unsplash
