The trilogy : Act II

Does the search for identity ever end...

Do we ever find a conclusive answer to the question...

" Who are you? "

What's the answer that comes after introducing yourself and saying your name...

Who's the true " I am"

Without the vanities we attach ourselves to and identify with

And does identity have to be constant? Consistent? Never changing? 

Like a name that I'm stuck with for life - even after death moreso 

Why does it feel like I can't be everything... I can only be one thing

Because that's the rule ... do or be too much and you're just "lost"

Like I'm fashioned to fall in line 

Conditioned to follow the conditions set by the ones who came before me 

Follow suit to a culture that I do not want to identify with...

As a man - do I have to identify with football?

Is beer the only drink allowed at the boys club?

I found myself attached to my hair

Attached to the image of myself with it

Identified myself with it

I shaved it off and not only did I look unrecognisable - but also felt unidentifiable to myself

Not being able to run my fingers through a thick layer of hair

Not feeling water soak in my hair when I'm taking a shower

Not spending 10 more minutes getting ready because I have to moisturise and comb my hair

Because I'm not the same without my hair...

I'm not myself without it...

Or am I?

I found myself attached to my ring

Never taken it off for over a year now

I found myself accustomed to the tapping of plates whenever I held one in my hands because of it

And now...

It's no more - my pinky is undressed, uncovered, bare

All that's left is the indentation of my ring on it 

A reminder that I used to be a house, a home - and I'm no longer one

I don't feel the same way 

Am I still the same?

I found myself attached to my bracelets

They were my ornaments - my defence, my identity of style 

It felt like a security breach when I cut them off

To actually feel my skin and wrists without the presence of a foreign object on it

I feel naked 

Stripped of my covers 

But then again... isn't this just a factory reset?

That I'm not defined by any of this...

Hence I'm back on this journey, this road that never ends - where I'm asking myself...

"Who are you?"