Sometimes I feel I’ve tried too hard– to be everything other
than me/I stare in mirrors waiting for echoes to reveal the eyes
of a man who others aren’t afraid to see but the voice of my reflection
speaks back at me with a dialect of a defined soul who has struggled
through the crutch of society’s plagiarism of my own mind.
I’ve had my heart stolen—emotions copied by predators
with no understanding of how it feels to be born
already torn/into threads; an identity lost in the many
fragments of prejudice hidden clearly within distorted visions
camouflaged inside the confusion of empty smiles,
and sometimes I feel I tried too hard– to make this world easier
for them; and sometimes I fail to realize I can’t be anybody
except who I need to be and sometimes the ink stays silent
even when my thoughts are crying loud, yet
I’ve found a way to still stand tall proud, I’ve risen
up from beneath the darkest clouds because I tried;
I’ve fought through webs of anonymity finding the necessary
foundations of individuality because I tried;
I’ve walked down streets where failure stands on street corners
with my head up high, not because I was better
but because I tried
and where destruction has cried,
I’ve found a way to battle though the roadblocks of my life
and head down the path of sacrifice
realizing to get to my destination I had to fulfill my own need
and break away to a place within myself
where I could be freed
and because I tried
I have landmarked the journey where the embrace
of individualism indeed succeed.
© 2011
Tarringo T. Vaughan
