Life Purpose

There is a thing inside me
Which needs to come out;
I know it, I know it so well.
For years I have run from it,
Terrified, unworthy;
Even to speak its name
Feels like a boast
Of which I must be ashamed.

But this thing -
Desire, impulse, need,
Burning, unquashable ambition,
Or simply inner knowing
Of what it is
I am meant to do -
Has kept pace with me
All the same.
I have tried to quench it
But the fires won't be tamed.

Now I feel it in every breath,
In every cell of my being;
The importance of still present fears
Diminishes each day.
And suddenly the permission
I so readily give to others
Makes sense! I understand its aim:
It's the permission I need
For myself
To break all the rules.