What Did You Expect?
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It starts the day you are born,
They, the people, expect everything to be perfect;
You, the child, to be flawless, pink, and of the right gender;
Lucky, blessed, and to be bringing fortunes to the family
Then one day, they’ll give it to you, a load of expectations —
Topping school, shining at competitions,
Being a good woman, a tough man, rich, successful;
But never once talking about falling or failing or fighting
As life peaks, you’ll have adorned many roles,
Most enforced upon, very few satisfying;
But that load on your back would now be twice as heavy,
And slowly it becomes life, and you follow suit
It’s possible that if you are mindful, you may begin to wonder,
“Is there a way out?” and may ponder for answers;
But if you aren’t, you will just push yourself harder,
And find innovative ways to carry that enormous baggage
As it keeps getting heavier, you will tell yourself,
“I will travel the world when I’m 60.”
“I will follow my passion after retirement.”
“I will live my life some other day…”
Before you know it, there’s another bag full of ‘regrets,’
If you are lucky, you get to outlive them, like some,
Who find love in their 50s and others who find liberation in 30s;
But most just succumb to confining norms and give up too soon
And thus ends most unwritten biographies,
With many things undone, unfulfilled and unachieved;
In the battle to fight for identities that aren’t theirs,
Very little gets claimed in this ‘world full of opportunities’
But sometimes, even if you choose to,
You don’t get to disown your baggage;
That’s the illusion of morality and the irony
Of being the only organism capable of reasoning on Earth!
