Shawn L. Bird

Daughter, wife, mother, student, teacher

each role I embrace in the search for myself

poet, writer, dancer, seamstress, preacher

constrained by expectations, trying to excel,

battling responsibilities, expanding my reach.

Stop.

I’m tired of being caught in this box!

I need to be free of these responsibilities;

I need to find me.

I don’t fit in this box, in this space or this place,

where I have been a chrysalis.

Now,

I    a  m    o  u  t  s  t  r  e  t  c  h  e  d,

gossamer wings unfolding from this abyss of my history,

from what they said I had to be–

what I thought I had to be–

I am embracing destiny;

accepting all the facets of my identity,

I have discovered

me.