The path I chose!

Talking of the path I took

Mind and consciousness,

heavy on my soul.

All I could see

was darkness.

Nothing but shadows

of the person I could have been.

Walking through nightfall,

I saw my childhood

seeping through a cage

a cage I once built

to trap my own being,

to silence rebellion,

to stay virtuous,

to avoid fault.

And yet,

he broke free.

Free of all.

To see.

The further I walked,

I met my love

happy in my arms,

living the best moments

of what could have been.

Her tender heart

woven into mine,

a heartbeat shared

with the divine.

Further still

I saw friends I’d lost on the path,

cheering for me,

patting my shoulder

like brothers in war.

Now I stand tormented

by the road I chose

how much I’ve left behind,

how little I have gained.

And still,

I walk.

It is my destiny

to search for the light!

Further on a family.

Children in a park,

a couple laughing in love.

The boy resembles me.

Her eyes mirror my lost beloved.

We both wear white strands now,

still in love.

But these were only shadows

of possibilities.

Paths not taken.

Versions of joy I turned away from.

I chose differently

I chose darkness,

solitude.

As I walk again,

there glimmers a faint light.

My heart aches with anguish

at my own becoming

how foolish I was

to have had enough

and left it all.

I walk toward a light

that feels like eternity

doubting every step

as thorns cut my flesh,

blood drawing

a crimson line

highlighting every shadow

I’ve left behind.

But I walk.

Tired.

yet something in me recoils,

remembers

why I chose this road.

This heart-wrenching journey

with no map,

I walk still,

towards a light

that leads to nowhere,

writing my pain into purpose,

turning suffering into salvation.

And now

I stand

at the end of the way.

All I see

It is a mirror.

All my life,

I saw beauty everywhere

except here.

Now I see a stranger

in the glass

wise,

serene.

Scarred,

but whole.

I’ve become the man

I had been searching for.

Reformed

by the very thorns

that once tore me.

Now I am free.