Part of an Intimate Poem Series “To society, my existence was as malleable as gold” One day I woke up and no longer recognized myself. Turns out, I had been living a lie. To society, my existence was as malleable as gold. I let them mold my being to meet all their definitions of the who, what, where, when and why. I was further and further away from my roots, my core, my authentic self. I was never able to rise above the surface until I was hit with a tide so strong it dragged me to shore.