FIRST STEPS

 FIRST STEPS

I know the shadows swirling in your mind,
A fortress built of singular truths,
Where only your reality gleams, unconfined,
And the rest of us fade like forgotten youths.
Somehow you've crowned yourself the sole decree,
Convinced the world's orbit spins 'round your throne—
If it weren't laced with such sharp indignity,
It might almost spark a laugh, a wry groan. Your needs parade like banners in the wind,
Asserted bold, without a backward glance,
What they demand, how you'll seize them, unpinned
From the chains of compromise or chance.
You leave us stumbling in the velvet dark,
Groping for light you hoard in selfish hands,
While echoes of our voices, faint and stark,
Dissolve in the silence of your grand plans. I get it—no soul can soothe every ache,
No heart can heal the world's endless plea,
But in this vast tapestry we all partake,
Where feelings bloom like stars in a boundless sea,
Why hoard validation like a miser’s gold?
What elevates your pain above the crowd?
In a chorus of souls, both young and old,
Your solo drowns out the symphony aloud. I've listened long to your unyielding stance,
Your fortress walls of discard and disdain,
Who you cast aside in your self-centered dance,
Leaving trails of disregard like autumn rain.
So I'll gather my cues from the cracks in your speech,
The clues in the quiet where empathy fled,
And slip away silent, beyond your reach—
A vanishing act, no words left unsaid. Someday soon, when the echoes grow thin,
You'll pivot, expecting the crowd to applaud,
To be heard once more, to be lifted within
The warmth of the praise you've always adored.
But a spade remains sharp, no matter the name,
No shade thrown in malice, just truth laid bare—
I harbor no curses, no vengeful flame,
Only regret for the bridge we couldn't repair. I wish you'd woven the threads of our bond
With care, not haste, in a foundation so true,
So my steps, my journeys, the miles I'd respond,
Could bloom in a garden of mutual view.
Instead, they were spent on a one-sided road,
Chasing reciprocity that never arrived—
Now I'll redirect where the kindness is sowed,
In soils of thoughtfulness, where connections thrive. For in this great world, with its infinite hearts,
We all deserve echoes that answer our call,
Not monologues scripted from solitary parts,
But dialogues rising, unbreakable, tall.
So farewell to the mirror that reflects only you—
I'll seek horizons where reflections are shared,
Where feelings entwine in a spectrum anew,
And no one's left lingering, unseen, unpaired.