Rest without the shame.
Retreat without any guilt.
Know and heal thyself.
It is funny how
When things are going just right
It almost feels wrong.
Some confuse humility
With guilt-ridden eternity.
I, for one, cannot let go
Of all the wrongs that helped me grow.
Though a better man today,
I fear what everyone would say.
If they knew my sordid past,
Would they leave my side so fast?
I know that if it were another,
A regretful, fretful sis or brother,
I’d tell them to be more at ease,
To drop the burden, if you please.
For everybody’s past is stocked
With things for which we could be mocked,
Or judged, or scorned, or cast aside,
Yet from our own, we cannot hide.
But knowing this is true for all,
That we’ve all had our times to fall,
Should cause some kind of clarity,
Or even solidarity.
If these would be my words to you,
Why can’t I know them to be true?
I can, I must, for my own sake,
For shame is just too hard to take.
So step by step, I will be free
To be the best version of me.
Keep the ghosts at bay.
Those who’ve scorned you do not know
How far you have come.