Let me be

Everyone keeps telling me
what to do, 
what to think, 
how to feel...

Can't I do it by myself?
What's wrong with me?

What makes everyone believe
that I have to be told?
Why do I have to fit
in someone else's mold?

Everyone seems to know
what's good for me.
So much better than I do...
How can that be?

What gives anyone the right
to live for me?
To put me in a box
and make me feel
that I have no control...

When the truth is...
I just don't want to fit
in someone else's mold.

I don't have to explain.
I don't have to justify.
I don't have to say
whatever's on my mind.
I don't have to play
by someone else's rules.
I make my own game
and I play any way
that I want to.

I have the right
to be myself
just like everybody else.

My brain functions,
I can think
just like everybody else.

And I don't need
someone to tell me
who I am.

There's far too many
who know too much.
Who give the answer
when the question wasn't asked.

So I say:
Let me be,
let me make my own mistakes.
Let me feel the waves of life
flow right through me.

Let me savor this illusion
let it invade
my senses.
It doesn't frighten me.

It's the cycle of the ages,
it's the same old scene
playing
again and again.

Let me be!
Let me be!
I won't bother anybody,
no one has to count on me.

I am no one's inspiration,
I am nobody's guide.
I can't tell you where to look.
I can't tell you what you'll find.

Let me be!
Let me be!
All I want is a little space
that I can call my own.
Because in the end,
I am all alone...
even when I'm not.

Carmen Colombo
November 1994