Stay The Same

There is no going back,
When your pride is in the way,
Unless you're willing to forget yourself
Or, at least, who you say,

You are and run the risk of losing,
That person forever,
And rearranging your jumble of perceptions,
Into another form,

That would be derided by the one you were,
If it still existed,
But which you still remember, because somehow,
Some nugget of it has resisted,

And made you not alright,
With compromising.
It's only the pride before the fall,
If you accept losing.