Before "We" there was "Me"

a poem on living life and loving the life you've lived.

Adjoa Skinner Webb

Dec 10, 2021

Photo by Joelle Martinec

Before We There Was Me

Before we, there was me

Before I knew this life

Before I was a mother,

Before I was a wife

I had a strange abandon

That was dedicated to

The ways that I could be alive

Before having you

Before the obligations

Of a responsible adult

I made mistakes, and got back up

And it was all my fault.

I learned what made a person free

Was all within their mind

I learned adventure awaited me

If only I could find

The will to right abandon

To ways beyond my reach

I learned how to do things

I learned how to teach.

I learned how to love

Then learned to love again

I learned that our personalities

Are formed by the age of ten.

And this ten year old

Though walking around in a business suit

Was a hurting inner child

That never got the boot.

I took her with me everywhere

through my twenties and thirties, and then

I’d found I’d taken my inner child

Round earth and back again.

So, one day I held and looked at her

I told her she’d be fine.

The things that she was told in life

Do not make up her mind.

Most things people tell us

Are the fears and falls they’ve known

Although those are the catalysts

By which they’ve truly grown.

So even though my inner child

May plead to me her case

That anything not good in life

Should somehow be erased.

My life has looked quite different

From the other children who

Never got around to being

free enough to do…

The things their heart’s had yearned for

The things that no one said

The thoughts that kept them up at night

Sleepless in their bed.

Before we there was me

And I was quite a sight

I lived like each day was my last

From daybreak until night.

And oh the places that I went

The people that I met.

Were something out of story books

So why should I forget?

Why should I forget the lyrics

Written from the past?

Why, when they were written

So you’d read them, hear them, laugh

Why, when they are ways to

understand my choices now

Each of us has got one life to live

If we know how.

And you know how to live it

Its intrinsic, nature made

You’ll find ways to chase the sun

And times to choose the shade.

You’ll find ways to be alive

However that looks to you.

Don’t determine your life’s work

By people who call you fool.

Do not let comparison

Steal time, be inspired

Use the tools within your hand

Choose how you’ll be wired.

Before We, there was Me

And before Me was You.

We started in the galaxies

Amidst the stars and moon.

We started in the heavenly’s

With all the earth below

So what I’m saying, is tap into

What you already know.

You’re apart of something bigger

Grander than your life

So when you’re feeling small my child

Turn your eyes up toward the sky.

And see the vastness of it all

Don’t let it bring you down

The earth is not the end you see

In heaven, there’s a crown

That has your name, for you to wear

A crown upon your head

Not because of what you did

Or anything you said.

A crown that says you’re worthy

A crown that says you’re loved

A crown that says you’re something

Something that’s enough.

So if the daily busy-ness

Of proving value here

Has got you in a tiz, please

Remember this my dear.

Before You, there was a Me

And before Me was You

The value of our lives is so much bigger

Than our truth.

So if you’re feeling lonely,

unimportant or afraid

Know my child, you’re perfect

Thats how each of us is made.

And if the voices all around

Are drowning out this fact.

Remember your perfection

Isn’t based on how you act.

Its based on what you’re made of

All the magic, all the good

So go and live your life

Not just based on how you should.

But based on what makes you alive

Today may be our last.

We’ll go back to the moon and stars

Once this life has past.

For now, its time to truly feel

the magic within you

Live, my love, go live life well

With each day that is new.

@adjoaskinner

Thanks for taking time to connect in this way.

If this kind of long poetry speaks to you more (or less) than the previous posts please let me know in the comments below. I’m working on creating various kinds of tiers and sections to this devotional that will best serve you.

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