Author’s Note

Some versions of yourself do not disappear quietly.

Even after you’ve changed, even after you’ve tried to move forward, there are still old names, old mistakes, old selves that follow behind you like shadows.

This piece came from thinking about transformation—not as a clean rebirth, but as something heavier.

Something witnessed.

The ravens in this poem aren’t meant to be enemies. They’re observers. Keepers of memory. Symbols of the parts of ourselves we can’t fully erase, no matter how badly we want to leave them behind.

And the fire isn’t destruction alone.

It’s momentum.

Because sometimes growth doesn’t happen when you escape the past.

Sometimes it happens when you finally walk through it.

— Rowan Evans

Finish What You Started
Poetry by Rowan Evans

Strike the match
and light the flame—

watch the past
decay and end.

I walk through temples
while the ravens watch me.

I feel their eyes upon me,
following—

every movement
traced.

They tally every sin I’ve carried,
every name I’ve buried,
every version of myself
I tried to outgrow.

They know the weight
I drag behind me,
the shadows I pretend
I’ve already outrun.

The flame behind me grows,
licking at the stone,
urging me forward—

a reminder
that the only way out
is through.

The ravens
do not warn me back.

They only tilt their heads,
as if to say—

go on…

finish
what you started.

Journey into the Hexverse…

Previous:
[The Shadow and the Spark]
A psychologically charged free verse poem using Mortal Kombat imagery to explore anxiety, depression, identity, and the realization that survival matters more than victory.

[East Knows My Name]
A deeply introspective poem about emotional displacement, cultural disconnect, and feeling spiritually drawn toward a place far from where you were born.

[Out of Sync]
A reflective free verse poem about emotional displacement, shifting sleep cycles, and feeling spiritually drawn toward another side of the world.

Upcoming:
[Altars and Roses]
A gothic free verse poem about poetic identity, recurring symbolism, devotion, and the quiet humanity beneath dramatic imagery.

If you’re interested in more poetry, you can find it here → [The Library of Ashes]