Walking down the street, life moves slowly

As I run into people and fall onto the rough concrete.

Bitter voices and yelling catch my attention,

But the powerful wind propels me into dangerous roads.

 

Reflecting on who I am with no filter requires a lens

That can see through the transience of my mandated life.

The essential principles of every human life revolve around

Receiving a good education, finding a job, getting married,

Raising a family, and finally laying down in eternal rest.

This human timeline has kept me on a steady trajectory

In which I am unable to break off my mold and start anew.

 

Walking faster, running into objects harder.

The pain becomes greater, but the wind pushes harder.

Angry crowds gather behind me and yell louder,

But these noises are drowned out by the voices of nature.

 

I am a creative and artistic individual who loves to

Study the arts and literature, but I know that money

Is important and I must pursue a safer path to my

Human existence. I know that I could be a better person,

I could write great stories and create unique art, but

Constant voices around me chain me to the earth and

Stabilize my path of life. Trying to follow the path of life

That I dream about is like trying to catch grains of sand in a

Net.

 

Moving faster and faster, the sidewalks are blurry.

Cars honk, but the wind continues to push.

The green leaves from the trees fall across my cheek

As I prepare to wonder into the unknown.

Prayers are sent up to the sky,

But nothing can stop the wind which propels me.

 

I am a talented student and athlete, and I have made good friends,

 But when the filters are taken off I am someone

Who is afraid. I am scared of the future and I am

Confused in a complex world which never seems to

Stop or start. I’ve tried praying and meditating for

Any sort of guidance, but I am still left feeling scared

To death about what type of person I will be ten years

Down the road. No matter how much I try to be myself and

Take off the filters from my inner personality, they won’t

Rub off and I am stuck oscillating between the thin boundaries

Of a life where we can live freely unbounded by society and a life

Which is mandated and ruled by the culture we are born into.

 

Suddenly the howling wind secedes,

But everything is stationary. I can move freely,

Past and present have no more meaning.

Nothing will ever be the same.

 

Filters were designed to brush up pictures which

Have bad quality or poor lighting, filters design a

Mask for humanity in which it is inevitable that

We live a unfulfilled life. Before we know it the clock

Stops ticking and dreams which are not achieved are

Left onto to future generations. Filters may hide

My fears and concealed emotions from society,

But I will not let these restraints bring me down from

Understanding the duality of human life.

Filters create a halo around the bittersweet life

That is chosen for me by invisible forces, but I will not

Let these forces contain my true artistic desires and keep

Me from hiding my true emotions due to fear.