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Wasted Potential
July 4, 2022
there is a thing inside me larger than myself
it is not soul nor flesh
it does not bleed nor does it need breath
it is simply a yearning, inescapable as the sunrise
and on most days it is kind
because it forces me to grow
around it
but on other days
days where my skin feels stiff and bones feel centuries old
I simply cannot
and i wish it would shrink and shrivel
and die
and if it ceases to exist then i can be free of that relative measure
it reminds
and i can finally be free of
a predication by the divine
for if it ceases to exist then i can be free of
all the tempting what ifs
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Wasted Potential was inspired by the idea that potential is a double-edged sword, where while it gives hope it also is a "predication" that provides a somewhat quantitative measure of what one can achieve. I was inspired by the fear of not living up to that predication of the divine and the self-sabotaging wish that potential did not exist at all.