I'm hiding from myself,

encased in a shell.

I am deaf to the world,

blind to everyone around me.

I go through life

as a system of routines,

and nothing more.

Why am I so afraid

to leave my shell behind

to roam the world freely?

Why is it that

I cannot truly be a person,

that I am a grey amorphous shape

in the background of life,

there for a while

and soon forgotten?

I long for someone

to take a sledgehammer

and shatter my world,

only to help build a better one.

But to be free,

it is I who must hack though the shackles

that fetter me in my shell.

Only I have the power

to change myself.

It is I who must take

the first step

into the light.