Carrying Shame

I stopped Wearing someone else’s skin a long time ago

found some comfort being in my own

I stopped pretending

became real again

I learned what shame looked and felt like for me

Worked to free myself from the arising shame

Came to learn I’ve been wearing other people’s shame

Even when I worked to free myself 

wound up wearing their shame again

Carrying the weight of someone else’s pain

Mimicking their hurt and pain as my own

over identifying

I am not a scapegoat

there is no target on my back

I am soaring again today