.shedding stories.

Stories

We shed

Like old skin

Discarded and lost

As we walk in bare feet

Learning to breathe

Without blinders

Without glass

Without

Your expectations

A leash

one shaped by stories

Cast in someone else’s narrative

Unlatch

And float

Listless

Weary

And weightless

Curious and

Sometimes aimless 

Searching for self

Trusting that

some true-ness

Lies underneath

The layers

And scales

That fall

And float away

What’s left

Beneath stories

And shoulds

Surreptitiously assembled

By authoritative voices

Claiming

They know best

But I

Yet a stranger to myself

still an expert on myself

Know best

Still know to head west

Releasing shields and shoulds

Embracing heals and coulds

Allowing the sun to set

On old paths and perspectives

Stepping lightly

Into a new and uncharted road

Hoping,

in 

walking.