I Used To

I used to wake up in the morning To the music of my soul And search the whole day through For one like you. I used to sing a song of joining, For in my heart I felt the light, And I reached out every day With hope renewed. I used to sing. I used to dance. I used to whisper poems nightly to the moon. I used to love the artist in me and all that came my way, I used to celebrate expression every day. But, living found me coupled with pedantic, empty souls, With clever masquerades of magic men. And I find that I have turned around, And left my voice behind, And I find that I am not what I had been. I used to sing! I used to dance! I used to practice all my talents every day. I used to find expressing life through art The only way to be; I used to feel that was the only way for me. But, now I find I have a cobwebbed life, A dusty, boring, ho-hum life, A life without expression or esteem. I've turned into a shadow of a girl who used to be. I've turned into the opposite of free. ...and I've turned into the opposite of me.