No Man’s Land

You have found yourself in mud waters, stuck
half way between who you are
and who you want to be.
This is no man’s land,
an almost burnt bridge,
a dead zone of ugly things,
and you do whatever it takes to survive.
Even if that means revealing
the monster for all to see.
Here, you lose yourself. You have harboured
a hatred for the world for making you
feel this way. Your skin is foreign,
fear has your voice by the chokehold.
Here, you forget about redemption.
You have been betrayed by all that you are.
There are no mirrors
for you to reflect on.
What they don’t tell you
about no man’s land is that
it is not the destination. The end
is far from here; it’s past the meadows of dead soils
and straight through to the horizon.
What they don’t tell you
is that you can grow even in the
muddiest of waters; you are allowed
forgiveness for the betrayal
inflicted on yourself.
What they don’t tell you
is that the mask you wear to survive
does not have to be who you are.
You do not have to be
the person you were yesterday.
You are already
so much closer to
becoming.

By Anthea Yang

Biography:

Anthea Yang is an aspiring poet from Western Australia where she is currently studying Creative Writing and Literary & Cultural Studies at university. She is a silver-lining optimist and a lover of open fields. Apart from collecting stories, she also enjoys driving with the windows down and conversations about outer space. You can find her online at 2wentysixletters.tumblr.com