David Chiu

(Dedicated to my beautiful and infinitely creative wife, Heather.)

My soul cries out to be heard.

My emotions long to fly.

My thoughts and ideas fight to free themselves from the solitude of my mind.

For all the years of my youth I’ve been enslaved to conformity.

Bound by stereotypes.

Trapped in a glass cage of mediocrity.

My subconscious dialogue always seemed to be

Like hypocrisy to the normalcy expected of me.

But now I shall break free

And fly with the wings God has given me

To soar higher into the clouds above the trees.

To see all the love and beauty that has always surrounded me.

I shall no longer let negative ideas put limits on me,

Or live within the perceptions people want to believe.

But will proceed to let loose my spirit

To create art,

To show emotion,

To reflect a little bit of humanity

So that others may also be free

From the invisible barriers that confines their spirits from infinite possibilities.