[ NaPo 2017 ] We Are And We Are Not

 
who we say we are  
from one day to the next  
is subject to change  
 
To be convinced  
you can never be this other person  
is to never be this other person  
convinced he or she could be you  
  
As a child, you were many
different people in your imagination  
and you eventually grew up to become  
a few of those consolidated  
 
a hero, an accountant, a father  
 
As you became that man  
you put away the child  
you thought you no longer were  
with your childish things  
 
and without conscious planning
that came so natural before  
you just as easily ended up  
as few more individuals  
you never intended to be  
 
an angry taxpayer, a hoarder, an alcoholic  
 
because that child  
is still in there calling the shots  
believing he can be anyone  
 
even those he is afraid of becoming