Moulded Free

Written for Week Two of the Dragons & Butterflies Poetry Challenge · Hosted by Vision2Verse & Verdant Butterfly

Past, present and future
Aren’t sequential for me.
They reside in harmony,
Stacked in varied 
Combinations within.
Each being picked up 
At an opportune moment,
Serving well the predicament that 
Faces me then.
Taken years, 
significant moments, 
passing minutes…
Meeting, disrupting and phasing out
Of people, their lives, 
their power over me, around or 
just snags in the timeline.
It takes experiences,
That fail to leave easily,
Well-engraved, unknowingly
Dictating my state.
My after is as influenced
By my before, as my future will be.
The edges that I’ve flirted with so far,
Were a necessity that 
Revealed itself later,
On a boring, usual day, 
When I felt lighter for a change.
Unburdened from ties that 
remained blurred, till they were broken.

This after feels as fragmented 
as my before.
But I don’t despair,
For forging these ephemeras
Of time
Is what life has been 
Turning me towards.
I live, persevere,
Patiently learning what 
My essence entails.
I was as much myself 
as I am today.
Sometimes naïve, at times easily swayed.
Without a language then,
gradually building a vocabulary within. 
Caution, boundaries and self-love
Have been mapping their own way
Into the structure.
This after has hope,
Finally, having forgiven 
the me before.
It approaches life 
A little different.
Maybe wiser,
Perhaps slightly burnt,
Moulded ostensibly smooth,
Those edges inturned.

A line and wash original created by yours truly in an A5-size watercolour sketchbook on 27.03.2025

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Written for the Dragons & Butterflies Poetry Challenge · Hosted by Vision2Verse & Verdant Butterfly

There will be a fresh prompt every Sunday in April, due by Wednesday. Sharing the link below to the prompt, if you wish to submit yours by Wednesday this week:

Dragons & Butterflies Poetry Challenge