Borrowed Paths (The Weight I Keep)

I stayed where the silence felt familiar… Not safe… …just similar… Same shape of the ache, just quieter Same weight, just carried more interior I told myself this is what roots feel like But roots don’t tighten when you try to rise They don’t whisper “stay” when you know you’re right They don’t turn truth… …into compromise… There’s a line… …I’ve been walking… But it never was mine… These borrowed paths keep pulling me close To versions of me I don’t outgrow… Just circle, return, repeat the known Like I’ve been living… …inside a ghost… If I let it fall… (what stays with me?) What breaks away… (what sets me free?) I carried weight that I didn’t choose Now I decide… …what I… …refuse… Every step had a voice attached Every thought had a past to match Every “truth” had a source I lacked But I wore it anyway like it had my back There’s a stillness now that I don’t resist Not fear… …not doubt… …just coexist… And it’s showing me what I almost missed The difference between being held… …and fixed… I don’t need to be certain to move I don’t need to hold on to prove If it leaves… …it was never mine… If it stays… …it survives the line These borrowed paths keep pulling me close To versions of me I don’t outgrow… Just circle, return, repeat the known Like I’ve been living… …inside a ghost… If I let it fall… (what stays with me?) What breaks away… (what sets me free?) I carried weight that I didn’t choose Now I decide… …what I… …refuse… The hills don’t call… (they just remain) And I hear myself… (without the name)