This Love, This Life…

This love has been elusive.

Don’t put your life on hold,

Don’t wait for it,

Don’t want it too much they said.

But who made all these rules?

Why can’t I want what I want?

Say what I feel without being dismissed,

Or labelled or told to hush.

It’s easy.

Easy to chip away at yourself,

To chip away chunks of you so you fit,

Fit the idea of what you should be like,

Act like, talk like, live like.

But what happens when after all the chipping

You no longer remember who you are?

Who you were, what you stood for.

These rules.

They’re stifling.

Don’t feel, don’t show, don’t say.

Well, I’ve never been one to follow rules

Why start now?

Put down the axe, no more chipping.

I’ll live, I’ll want, I’ll dream.

I deserve to be happy, to be thoroughly loved,

By myself and by others.

Life is for living,

Life is for loving,

And by God, I will live and love

In all CAPS.

This life is mine, and it’s time to live it.

– Adaugo