through my own eyes

All my life, I’ve seen myself through your gaze, Chasing worth in your fleeting praise. You said you loved me but for the wrong reasons, Changing with you, like shifting seasons. Am I just something, not someone real? Trapped on a pedestal I never chose to feel. You call me beautiful but that’s not the whole truth, There’s strength in my scars, in my unspoken youth. ’Cause I am more than what you choose to see, Yes, I have petals soft, divine But thorns grow too, and they are mine. I won’t be caged in your point of view, I’m breaking the glass you boxed me into. My beauty runs deeper, born from within A fire, a storm, not just porcelain skin. And now I’m done living just to please, I’m claiming my life, my own release. ~deepshikha jha