It’s easier until it’s not.
You try to numb it, to pretend that it still works.
(Your body knows.)
Until it destroys you.
Those grooves that got reinforced over and over and over again break through.
And then
you fall.
Into the ether.
The darkness.
Who are you here?
Without the titles?
Without the structure?
Where degrees don’t matter.
Who are you if you are not tough?
(You are tough. And soft. You can feel it all here.)
Who are you if logic doesn’t reign supreme?
(Oh darling there is so much more to know and understand.)
(You are so much more.)
Who are you without the system’s validation?
What’s on the other side?
Maybe it’s you.
The you that was quietly, patiently
waiting
For you to come home.