Erase One's Past Poem by alexis williams

what if the things i do,
the dreams i follow,
the things i achieve,
what if they change my past?

the fear i faced?
the criticism?
the backlash?
the times i dealt with the people who doubted me?

would i even be here without those things?
no i wouldn't, is the answer.
what i do, what i feel, what i think, what i want, what i demand-
is all a byproduct of all of them.

i wouldn't try so hard,
reach as far,
dream as big & wide,
do anything to prove those who doubted me wrong,
be at inner peace with myself.

i'd be nothing without my past,
yet i find myself,
like most other people
on this huge rock
to curse said past,
wishing my future endeavours
would magically erase my past.

although i know
that my past, which i condemn
to the ends of the earth,
would erase me as i am
if it were erased itself.