Shadow of form

Are you a shadow of a form or a form in yourself?
Born unwilling
In a pit or a cushioned cradle
Spanked wide awake
With a smile or a smirk
Humdrum and cacophony
Oppressive smells of a baffling land
Passed from hand to hand
Emotional assortment squashing my unprepared senses
The crinkled smile here
The mean frown there
The color discussed philosophically
The size debated with serious concern
I come to something that they tell me is home

Muffled voices
Alien tongue and gestures
Readymade choices to supposed independence
Sheltered copy of the world to manicured photocopy of who I should be

Follow codes or invent a new doctrine
Tread familiar paths or lead the ones lost
Look back into comfortable archives or break the fireman’s switch
Pick roses on your journey or mourn the thorns

The choices I make
The by lanes I take
The voices I heed
The affection I need
The chapters I write
The battles I fight
The poems I author
The ashes I scatter

(to be continued... or not?)