Versions of Me

A reflective poem about the many versions of me that live in the minds of others, and the quiet self that exists beneath perception.

There are so many versions of me
walking through the world.

One lives in a passing remark.
Another in a memory softened by time.
A third in a story retold so often
it begins to resemble truth.

To some,
I am a question still unfolding.

To others,
an answer already written.

A dreamer.
A wanderer.
A late arrival.
A soul arriving exactly on time.

Some hold me in the warmth of affection.
Some in the distance of indifference.
Some through the fog of envy.
Some through the clarity of understanding.

And each leaves carrying
their own version of me.

How curious,
that one life can scatter itself
into countless reflections,
like moonlight breaking upon water.

To one,
I am scarcely a ripple.

To another,
an entire sea.

Some imagine I have come from distant horizons.
Some believe I have fallen from the stars.
Some find me rooted in the earth,
beneath seasons and soil.

Others place me among constellations,
where possibility gathers its light.

And so the versions of me multiply.

A quiet multiverse
living inside the minds of strangers,
friends,
and those who have known me only briefly.

Then what am I, truly?

The reflection,
or the one being reflected?

The story,
or the silence beneath it?

Which voices deserve a place within me,
and which belong to the wind?

Tell me, dear Heart.

For every version of me
eventually arrives at your door.

And there,
beneath the noise of perception,
beneath praise and misunderstanding,
beneath every borrowed identity, I find a stillness waiting.

Not a version to defend. Not a mystery to solve.

Simply a soul,
returning to itself.

Written by Juilee Parag Parkhi

Also Read : A Graceful Exit , Amethyst Sky , Dear Moon .

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