Amidst the labyrinth of self-identity,

Being authentically myself at this moment in time,

I shed layers,

Residues of my former selves.

Abandoning the self that no longer reflects me,

Cleansing it from my bloodstream,

Purging it away from my breath.

Yet, the ghosts linger,

Persistently, I scrape away the traces,

Purging my skin from the haunting refrain.

If only being ‘me-me’ was tied to a specific time,

And only the past could define it by the ones who birthed me,

Or on the basis of who birthed me,

Based on their attire, their cuisine, their languages,

Brought into existence where they were born,

Where they lived,

Embedded in the warp and weft of time.

Yet, in this labyrinth of layers,

I ask myself, who am I then?

The ‘me-me’ is not static but a fluid thread,

Woven and enmeshed through numerous layers.

In this present moment,

here and now,

The question of ‘Who am I now?’ resonates,

With no lingering ghosts of the past.

Some residues remain.

Some shadows persist.

The causality is evident,

A symphony of consequences resulting from my choices is manifested in this dance.

I stand here because of who I was then.

I was there because of what I would become now.

If only being ‘me-me’ is in this present moment,

here and now determined by,

What I eat,

Which languages I speak,

What I wear,

Would I consider this a reference point for the future?