What I think I need

What I think I need,

What you think I need,
And what I really need-
Are three different things.
Three different worlds.
Three different dreams,
Each one pulling at me like strings
In a puppet’s dance.

I wanted peace.
Oh, I wanted quiet.
A world so still, no storms, no riot,
Just a moment to breathe, to rest, to just be.
But what I got was persistence,
A stubborn flame that refused to be snuffed,
A voice whispering, "Get up. Stand tough."

I wanted answers,
Clear, clean-cut, no frills, no mess.
But I got patience instead,
A test-
An endless waiting game,
Teaching me to let questions remain,
Unanswered, unclaimed.

I wanted simplicity,
A straight road, no twists, no tricks.
But I got layers-
Complexity on top of mystery,
Each step pulling me deeper,
Like pages of a story unfolding,
Until I realized, I’m not in control of the molding.

I wanted certainty.

Oh, I craved knowing for sure,
But what I got was doubt,
The cure-
A chance to learn that the ground beneath us
Shifts and sways,
That life is just a dance,
In shades of gray.

What I thought I needed-
What you thought I needed-
Was all shaped by what we see,
But what I really needed
Was to grow, to stretch,
To reach through pain, and joy, and hope,
To understand this life,
With all its depth, its fear, its scope.

So maybe, just maybe
This is exactly right,
For what I need most
Is not what I thought, but a spark, a light,
A reminder that life doesn’t give us what we want-
It gives us what we need.

And in the end, I’ll choose to believe
That these twists and turns
Are leading me, slowly,
Home.