Image credit: Heartland Arts

I was a different person then
I shed my skin so many times
I scarce remember, yet these photos
and these memories attest to a time
when I was other
When I cherished hopes to my breast
and played the games that society
required of one such as me
Acquired wealth and security
I was a different person then

But parts of her linger I must confess
in choices for comfort
This roof over my head and how I make
these selections which support
a daily life, in all these things
are whispers of the girl I was
so long ago, but she is gone
in all other senses, like a ghost
borne upon angel’s wings

I know she cared and dreamed of intimacy
like all others who are young
And deep within such songs were sung
as she spun her little loves
But this denied she turned within and died
to be reborn as such as I
But in this she’s lost, forever denied
I was a different person then

(c) Helen Valentina 2015 All Rights Reserved