I think how my life will change
if I let you in on this journey.
I am still me,
and if I share this with you,
I don’t want my light
compromised.
It’s as if I was lost in the forest,
naming the trees my enemy,
never noticing the way they’d
reach out to me, offer me a chance
to rest and lean against them.
Their light filters through me, now.
The wolves circle back to check
on me, to make sure I never
succumbed to the night.
The creek extends its energy
and rushes to greet me at dawn.
Coming home to myself
is making peace with the wilderness.
I never owed anyone a destination.
My path was never theirs to dictate.
I am the speaker
for all the past selves I buried.
And though, you may never understand,
and feel you have to drift away,
