Each time I try to breathe in this body,
I choke on its unfamiliarity.
A cage,
Tight around me,
Filling me with a fear
I've never learned to name.
The mirror shows a face
I want to tear away,
To throw into the sea
And watch it sink beneath the waves.
But still,
I rise.
I rise with the ashes of old selves,
Climbing toward a place
I have yet to touch.