I'm the one you want to be

Calm but unbroken,
Tame but unbridled
Fettered but free
So you smirk my way
tell me I'm headstrong
and I laugh in your face.
I know the rough parts of me,
the worldly needs in me,
I know how to cross my ankles when I sit.
I know the pains of love
and the scars of hate.
I know ridicule and jest and maliciousness.
I know my limits
I know how to break them.
I know what turns me on, what
keeps me going- I know the ending to my own story-
know the price I pay for this knowledge,
feel the shackles of responsibility...
But I know how to rattle my chains
and still get what I want.
You'll never break me.
You'll never bridle me.
And I'll always be free.
So go on and smirk and think you
know me better-
I know me, the soft and the hard,
the gentle and the strong,
the delicate and steely.
I know me.

I'm the one you want to be.