I used to let everyone
Else’s voice supersede mine,
Lent more credence to
What they said than
Anything I might have
Been thinking, and it
Paid off in an overwhelming
Windfall of misery and
Inauthenticity, having left
The real me languishing by
The wayside while I plodded
Ahead wearing someone else’s
Persona and venturing further
Away from the real me,
An indistinct whisper in
A cacophonous gale,
Alone and unindividuated.
