I walk amidst shades
Specters of me
What I was
And the thousand ways
I could have been

Free me from myself
That I might fly high
That I might touch the sky
Unshackled from my own mind

fire
warms me
hurts me
burns me
saves me
fire
chokes from without
drives from within
fire
let it stay at bay
let it take my heart

“Not myself”
What I say when I fail
What I say when I do wrong
What I say when I hurt another
What I say when I transgress

I am
“Not myself” when I fail
“Not myself” when I do wrong
“Not myself” when I hurt another
“Not myself” when I transgress

But
When I fail, I learn
When I do wrong, I own it
When I hurt another, I reconcile
When I transgress, I make whole

For to say I am not myself
Is to say I am more than I
So I shall not say
I am “not myself”

When I mean I am not as good as I wish to be

Whispering
It comes
Rises through the trees
To a roar
Brings a chill
Deep to my bones
Brings a promise
Of ice

It is empty
It is quiet
It does not speak
It does not move
But gaze upon it
It is full
It is loud
It sings symphonies
It pulls you places
Put it down
Naught but paper

I could change the world
I could shake foundations
I could break and trample
I could set fires

But what would I become?

The earth below breathes
Rumbles
Sputters
Trembles

The earth below speaks
Through the air
Through the grasses
Through the trees

The earth below is heard
By the animals
By the winds
By the oceans

But not by us