I don't want you to read this,
you will anyway,
abash me with what you say,
criticism or acclaim,
I'll be embarrassed either way.

The major struggle of this time,
as well as mankind as a whole:
foreign judgement plays a leading role.
My river flows, just like yours, yet
yours alters my course, you change my goal.

Does your opinion change who I am?
When all my attention is paid
to things you've thought, things you've said.
Could your views really derail me from
this fateful track that's yet to be laid?

Of course you can't change who I am,
only that which I want to be.
I can't pave the road in front of me.
Obviously you can't change
what I can't even see.