No supervisor measures out my worth;
her cold appraisal is a private shade.
I hold the value carried since my birth,
unmoved by petty metrics she has made.
I am far more than titles, desk, or wage;
this labor takes far more than it can give.
No hurried ledger binds me to the page;
I set the quiet terms on how I live.
If she should deem my efforts incomplete,
that weight belongs to her, and not to me.
Her fractured faith is where her shadows meet;
I walk the daylight, confident and free.
I chart the course across the open sea,
where neither spite nor malice holds the knife:
The architect of my own dignity,
I hold the sole dominion of my life.
