Consciousness, the blessing
and the curse of humanity.
Locked inside thoughts;
no escape from this goal.
There sat my various selves.
Those jig-saw pieces of identity;
the ones people knew and the parts they didn't.
An ever moving kaleidoscope
of fragmented images.
Changing with company
and circumstances.
Never quite the same, twice.
The secret self, the part
locked in the metal of
my soul.
The self that felt real
and true.
The child in the iron mask,
hard to realise her deepest
desires.
Wrongful identity imposed
by callous neglect and
constraints.
Growing up denied and sad.
Moments of realisation,
enacted in an empty house.
No witnesses to actions
of authenticity.
KEEPING
ME AWAY
FROM
MYSELF
© Catherine Reynolds
She/Her