Reflection

It is easy
To be angry
At what you dislike.

And while anger can
Set one free-
Anger isn't helpful when the light
Struggles to shine.

Anger at my flaws
And submissive tendencies toward life,
Fueled my transformation.

But it did not hold
When my world filled
With shadows.

In the shadows
Where I lose sight
Of myself,

Is always where
I failed to see
The good in me.

Such hateful thoughts
are a nasty habit
That I must break.

I am not worthless.
I am not pathetic.
I am not a failure-

Despite what my mind
Would have me
Believe.

Before, the anger at
these thoughts pushed me
to change.

But anger cannot
Replace the love one
Needs to see themselves.

It is time that I
love myself
to make up for

All the love I should
Have known from
paternal blood,

All the hateful things
that were ever said
to hurt me,

All the pain
that did its best
to break what is in my soul,

All the dreams that
Will never come true

And for the ones I wish to
Accomplish.

I never saw my worth
And felt invisible to
the world that passed by.

But I see that I mean
something to many,
to the ones who matter.

So I need to do my best
To keep myself whole
and to strive forward-

And live each day as my true self
so that I can see the person
everyone else knew existed.