The day you spoke of your reputation

I remember

Remember the day

The day you spoke of your reputation

That it was not your soul

Not your identity

It was the fabric others clothed you in

The colors others painted you in

And that now you were free

So you would paint your own canvas

Unrestricted from the fear of disfavor

In this I envied you

For I had lived so bound by others

By opinions

By judgments

By fear of suspicions

And now

Now I long too for this freedom

To find myself before I am lost

Lost in this city

Of another’s dream

So I surrender

And cling to the shore of my soul

Praying that I find the key

To my door

Within

 

 

Author's Note

“In the world of dogma, you become free the day you decide to go to hell.”
― Aniekee Tochukwu Ezekiel

Reviews

[Ghania]

A very impressive poem!
And carries a deep and thoughtful message. It's true, we do get tired sometimes by fabricating ourselves the way others want us to live and show. It's sad. By fear of suspicions and opinions, you quoted it so well.
And the person who walks on his own way, chooses his own path and lives the way he wants to, people start hating him.
We are egoistic and are slave to our own reputation. Bitter but a truth.
Very well-written. :)

[An owl on the moon]

I am so grateful for your kind words, your understanding words, and your presence here as a light in this cafe. I still struggle in trying to find who I really am, apart from what others want of me or need of me. It is a difficult lesson, but so worth the pain of the journey. Thank you dear poet!

[Ghania]

You're very welcome :)

[The Seeker of Thoughts]

This reminds me of a picture I used to have in my house. It was a man standing behind a door with a door knob only on his side. Beyond the door was all he could ever want. There was only one catch. Only he can open the door from inside. Thank you for this astounding work.

[An owl on the moon]

What a beautiful, transcendent painting, and so grateful my frail words could somehow connect you to that scene again. Yes, how the world must awaken and find the way through the doors.

[Tiny Drop]

I can never get tired of your words. Your metaphors are truly a wonderful thing. You mix words as easily as one turns oxygen into carbon dioxide, as if it was natural, easy, free of charge. But nothing is free. And yet you make it appear so, that mixing words is as easy as creating a reputation, creating feelings and emotions, making someone believe otherwise.
However, the tough part is extracting meaning of the words one writes and yours have it down to the core. I read your poem and thought to myself how easily you seem to have slipped inside my mind and stole my beliefs. How easily you read through my thoughts and found the empty mask. How funny, that you say the soul is not the reputation, and I want to believe it.
But the world is cruel and I am so very weak. So I hide behind my so called reputation, just one of my many masks, just like everyone else, and just pray. Pray that one day I find the key.
"To my door
Within"

Beautiful words as usual!

[An owl on the moon]

So thankful for your uplifting words! Your artistic soul has a way of making comments seem like a painting of poetry on my page. Am grateful my thoughts could speak into your mind, your experience, and that you could so relate to mine. How I know of this cruel world, and yes, of masks and mists and the weakness that comes in trying to hide in a false reputation. Somehow I know that the key is waiting for you, waiting to open your door within, and that your fingers will feel its fire when you place it in the lock. Can't wait to see what you find there.

[Tiny Drop]

I guess I'll just have to keep painting this wall on whichever color the sky looks brighter today. Since gratitude is shown by gestures, but to me it turns into words that fill the sky with a lighter shade. White puffy white sometimes. Dark tasty chocolate meanwhile.
But indeed you do have the gift to push emotions through words so simply, so swiftly it amazes me. Maybe the wait, before that last moment when the door opens and reveals itself, will be worth it as long as you keep painting emotions as you write poems.
Until then we wait for answers.
For our long lost questions.

[Great Aunt Astri]

Dear Owl, I thank you for this review. I am very impressed by your quote from Aniekee Tochukwu Ezekiel. I think my Soul is about to fall into Hades (as she prefers to call it) Then I will be FREE.

[Great Aunt Astri]

I know what you mean! You say a lot in your simplicity, and I feel your yearning. Others do try to categorise and judge one. But I think that key to the door within, is always there. The secret is not to let anyone know you have found it, otherwise they will try to find 'the fabric to clothe you in'!

[An owl on the moon]

How I see this too often! Yes, oh thank you for sharing. There is much of beauty in becoming truth.

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

Your eloquent Author's Note and poem are perfect and profound. The image is enchanting. Beautiful form, flow, cadence, "cling to the shore of my soul" -stunning imagery. Sadly, as your words well-express, we who cry for freedom, often live in a prison of "reputations" and rigidity that others make for us, or that we make for ourselves. It is left for us to release ourselves...Beautiful ponderance!

[An owl on the moon]

So thankful for your comments, for your understanding, dear poet. May you always find those around you who wish to see the truth of you, and not merely a manufactured mask of a soul.

[neeyati shah]

this poem is truly inspiring
"praying that i find the key
to my door within"
that is a beautiful metaphor
LOVED IT!

[An owl on the moon]

Thank you so much for your kind words! Good to have you here at the Cafe. :)

[AprilRN1210]

How it is to be trapped in one's own reality and mind, for the ego is stronger than we can imagine. Empowering and yet frustrating to learn that we create our own reality.. knowing doesn't fix anything...quite the contrary...the more you learn the more everything gets flipped upside down and the more overwhelming. Enlightenment is only the beginning. I love how you described it as lost in another's dream and clinging to the shore of your soul. I feel like that sometimes as well. Always on the edge waiting for the tide to come and sweep away, or afraid to run in full force. Looking for the day my canvas feels like my own again. Such insightful and beautifully honest work.

[An owl on the moon]

This is an aching one for me, as it has been the hardest part of my journey to freedom. And how you see it so clearly, the painful understanding, the enlightenment to bring one closer to self. May you find every color of your canvas alive with you again so soon. It will bring all around you to vibrant life. Thank you for your understanding thoughts.

[Sandipta$]

Live ur own life.....reputation is a word Lyk.... U ll live ur life by others opinion....no need to think about them.... Who r saying about reputation.. In d name of societies...

[An owl on the moon]

Yes, it's so true. We too often live for what others expect of us, and become less of who we are each day. Thank you for your comments, dear poet.

[Sandipta$]

U wlcm..... Dear poet😋