When I Look Back

When I look back, I can't seem to forget my past

it's so vivid like seeing the world after removing a mask

I feel defenseless like a lamb in the eyes of a wolf's pack

because it follows me like a shadow trailing behind my own tracks

 

and even though it's gone, it haunts my dreams like a battles in the memories of a soldier

forever alive when I close my eyes like repressed thoughts in need of exposure

or a distant child in need of somebody closer, to listen to their hopes

screaming for affection from a world where how to love, itself, it does not know

 

it impedes my bravest desires to push forward

to move on, and its weight alone is enough to break shoulders

it's like trying to muscle boulders, the odds are against you

and it's enough to make you shed tears like an applause from a venue

 

so, I struggle to clear my head and be optimistic

in a world that needs filters like from propaganda and false statistics

but when I look back, I don't forget where I'm going

zone-out or stray on my own. I stay focused on my goals, stay

built like forts made from Rome, conquer hills steeper than mountains dipped in snow

and reflect on how much I've grown to unleash wings

that feel the breeze of the skies where I've flown. . . when I look back.