Everything I Thought I Had To Be

The image I saw reversed on the wall

Spoke to me

Reflected my hopes and told horiscopes

Of things to be

I promised myself I'd be someone else

Long before now

The mirror of youth distorted the truth

Weighed me down



Everything I thought I had to be

Was a childish charade

Just a myth that I made

To look outside myself

Everything I thought I had to be

Was a thousand-foot wall

Since nobody at all

Is everything I thought that I had to be



I dabbled in schemes and astronaut dreams

At age twelve

We all need to see a hero-to-be

In ourselves

An unfounded pride will stumble and slide

Into guilt

A sense of defeat

The ghost of deceit

Haunts me still.