Title: Between Your World And Mine Poem by ashok jadhav

(The speaker stands facing an unseen parent or elder, voice restrained at first, hands clenched, emotion simmering beneath control.)
Monologue:
You say you don't recognize me.
That I've changed. That I've forgotten where I come from.
But have you ever asked yourself
whether the world you raised me for still exists?
You speak in rules, in sacrifices, in survival.
You tell me how hard it was for you,
how much you endured so I could stand here.
I know that. I honor that.
But must gratitude mean silence?
Must love mean obedience?
Every dream I carry feels like an insult to you.
Every choice I make sounds like rebellion.
You call it disrespect.
I call it breathing.
I live between your expectations and my own heartbeat,
torn in half by loyalty and truth.
You taught me strength, yet punish me for using it.
You taught me to stand tall,
but only if I stand where you tell me to.
(Voice cracks slightly.)
I don't want to erase you.
I don't want to shame your sacrifices.
I just want you to see me—
not as a mistake, not as a disappointment,
but as the future you helped create…
even if it doesn't look like the past you remember.
So tell me—
why is love measured by sameness?
Why must I lose myself
just to keep you comfortable?
(Pauses, softer, aching.)
I am not rejecting you.
I am trying to become myself.
And I wish—
I wish you could stand beside me,
instead of asking me to walk backward into your shadow.
(The speaker remains still, suspended between defiance and longing for understanding.)