breaking free

Time! I need time
to learn who I wanna be.
Time! I need time
to explore and be free.

I wanna place of my own
I wanna learn and grow.
I wanna do it all by myself

I’ll make my own mistakes.
Learn to give and take.
And I’ll do it with no one’s help.

Free! I wanna be free
with the earth and clouds.
Free! I wanna be free
and know what the word is about.

I’m scared –
Scared but won’t let it show.
Scared because I don’t know.
Scared that I’ll never know.

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I wrote this poem when I was 19 years old and trying to figure out what I wanted. Rereading it 33 years later, I’m not a huge fan of the word “wanna”, that I used to excess, but I’m keeping them since that’s how I originally wrote the poem.

Ⓒ 2019 Lisa Shaughnessy