I used to chase the shadows cast
By eyes that judged, by echoes past—
Each step I took, a measured beat
To win applause, not feel defeat.

I wore the masks they deemed just right,
A practiced smile, a face polite.
But buried deep beneath that show
Was someone only I could know.

No mirror framed my truest face,
Just fragments shaped by someone’s grace.
Their praise—a drug, their scorn—a chain,
A loop of loss, a learned refrain.

But quiet came, and in its still
I heard a voice that wasn’t shrill.
It wasn’t loud, it wasn’t proud—
Just steady, soft, but strangely profound.

It whispered truths I’d feared to say,
That I could choose another way.
Not lesser for the love withdrawn,
But stronger for the self I’d drawn.

Now I don’t beg for eyes to see
The worth that pulses deep in me.
I rise, unshaped by need or plea—
A life that’s mine, a soul set free.

So let them cheer or turn aside,
My joy no longer needs to hide.
I walk this path, my heart its guide—
Unwritten by the world outside.