Finding Myself

I stood at the edge of yesterday's shore,

Waves of my past crashing once more.

Fragments of voices, echoes so loud,

Lost in the whispers of an unseen crowd.

Who am I beneath the skin I wear?

A mask of courage, a cloak of despair.

A smile stitched tight with threads of doubt,

A heart still searching, in and out.

I have danced in the light of borrowed dreams,

Chasing approval, drowning in streams

Of expectations heavy as stone,

Yet feeling forever unknown.

I traced my worth in others' eyes,

Measuring joy in their fleeting sighs.

Each nod, each whisper, a thread in my fate,

But their love came early, their silence too late.

I let the world define my grace,

Lost in reflections, a nameless face.

Was I the storm or was I the sea?

Was I the cage or was I free?

I moved through valleys of endless doubt,

Shadows within and fears without.

Each step a battle, each breath a war,

Yet I longed for something more.

I craved the truth behind my name,

Not scripted roles or fleeting fame.

Not hands that held yet let me fall,

But the voice inside that knew it all.

So I stripped away the chains of "should,"

Let go of "must," embraced "I could."

I found my rhythm, my voice, my song,

A place where I had always belonged.

Not a mirror, bending to please anymore, not a puppet dancing on the breeze anymore. I carved my name into the sky, with every tear, I learned to fly. And I wasn't the past, nor all its pain, nor only the sun nor only the rain. I was the storm, the calm, the night; I was the spark, the endless light. Now I walk with steady feet, without needing anybody else to complete the story that was always mine—

An unchained soul, a divine heart.

Because in this depth of the silent true,

I found me- I found you. In that quiet open place,

Far from the rush and the upward chase,

In your eyes-the ones I drink my fill in;

Not through echoes of mere names,

Through untamed fiery flames.

The gentle whisper underneath my skin,

This voice was yours, the voice calling me from within.

You were never doubt, not one shred of fear,

You pulled me nearer in.

Through storms and an endless night

Through love that faded, through stolen light,

Yet here I stand, spirit tall,

Longer afraid of losing all.

For what is loss if not space to grow?

What is pain, if not truths to know?

Every tear became a lesson gained,

Every scar, a bridge unburned in vain.

I'm the dawn-the rising shine,

The deepening roots and the blowing wind.

I'm the hush before the raging storm,

Bright ember, newborn heart.

No longer hide in shadows cast,

Un-ensnared by the ghostly whispers past,

I inhale and let life live within me, be free-

It is never the finding me,

But rather it is about the becoming.

It is me-the whisper and roar of tide,

The soul which no more for shelter flies.

It is mountain and infinite high,

Question proposed, dauntless response told.

Restlessness for the clings to a hand

are lost once the stories no more seep,

I will now write a true stroke after another,

writing an en-fire-of me and of you.

For in the depths where fears once grew,

I found a love so vast, so new.

Not love that bends or fades with time,

But love that whispers, "You are mine."

Mine to cherish, mine to know,

Mine to nurture, mine to grow.

Not love from others, wild and free,

But love within—a child brave as can be.

A child who ran through fields of doubt,

Who searched for answers all about.

But now she stands, no need to flee,

For all she sought was here in me.

I am the ink, the page, the song,

The dream I chased for oh so long.

I was never lost, never astray,

I was just waiting-to find my way.

And now I walk with lifted eyes,

No weight to bear, no need for lies.

For I have found what makes me free-

Not just finding but being me.I am the strength in each new breath,

The courage coming from within.

Never again bound by chains of fear,

No longer seeking, for I'm here.

I stand on ground that I have claimed,

Unashamed, untamed, unnamed.

I am the storm, the peace, the flame,

The silence breaking every chain.

I am the echo of my heart,

A symphony of every part.

The shattered pieces, now whole,

Are the melody that makes me bold.

In every scar, in every tear,

I see the beauty, crystal clear.

For I have lived, and I have learned—

The light within was always earned.

I am not perfect, not the same,

I am the spark, the endless flame.

The journey's just begun to unfold,

And in its pages, I am told—

That finding myself was never lost,

It was the freedom of every cost.

It was the path of twists and turns,

The fire that from my soul still burns.

And now, with every step I take,

I know it's up to me.

I am not searching, I am found—

I am the light, I am the sound.

For in this moment bold and true,

I stand as me, as I am you.

The journey's done, the road now clear—

I've found myself, and I am here.