Too long I’ve lived

inside the noise,

the words,

the doubts;

I’ve been trampled down,

and made to shrink

beneath the sea of strife.

My soul was lost,

weighted by the expectations

placed upon me,

not just by others

but also by myself,

so all I could see was nothing.

Everything around me was blurred

and erased

by the chaotic flotsam

surrounding my life.

But the time has come

to pierce the shell

and break free of all the fodder.

My vision is clearer

and my heart is calm,

beating stronger than before.

I have punched holes in the cage,

and pieces of light shine on me again.

I can breathe better,

believing that the last few years

can fall away

as I slide out of their grip

like a snake shedding its skin,

revealing a new one underneath;

still tender,

but ready to meet the world

and start really living life again.