Sunshine

You said, "This isn't the age to do a PhD,
Do it after you're 30."
Has anyone ever told you,
There is no age—
For anything you have ever wanted to do.
The sun is shining today.
Let it shine today.
Why then would I choose to stay indoors?
I'm never going to be who you want me to be.
I'm never going to live your dreams.
So maybe you should just let me live mine.
How many times were your decisions made for you?
How many times did you do what you wanted anyway?
Why is it so hard for you to let go?
You're making it hard for me to let go too.
Mother, there was a time I felt free,
But now, my soul feels chained—
Like the old man waiting behind the glass counter
His breath so desperate that it fogs the glass
His thoughts so stifled that he hears nothing,
Not even the pace of his own breathing.
He is beating on a door that will never open.
Mother, let me choose and decide,
Let me take the reins of my life.
Your experience doesn't have to chart mine.
Maybe I need a therapist, mother
But would you consider I just need my space?