Territory

What is it,
To be a person?
To be whole,
In the self?
To not rely,
On others as defining borders?
To know,
What makes you who you are?

In so many ways,
The gimpy child learning to walk
To say no
To stand up
And shout out loud

Feeling forever pushed
I, the jellyfish
And the world,
Immovable stone

It's no lottery
No qualifications needed
To decipher
Which bends first

How to draw the line,
Around myself
And decide what's on
Which side

The skill and tool of the secret self
The ugly face buried underneath
But has to be enough
Because I can't be anything else

Needing to give up
On trying to fit
And to please
Disengage the guilt reflex
That comes
With the feather touch
Of you're not
Given in to

If fear is the goddess
To which we all bow
The question begs
What's the paralyzer?

Pony up to the counter
I'll have a double
Of loneliness and disapproval
For the road

I learned well
By the hand
Always a good student
In my pleated kilt

But the truth avoided
The lesson never learned
We are all alone
And forever, I am on my own
Terrifying though that is