How Can I Be Me?

Do you see me?
The real me?
Or am I hidden by a mask of the past?
Can you hear my voice?
Or is it distorted by echoes of the past?

Do you know me for who I really am?
Who I have become?
Or do you only see the me of the past?
Will you open your eyes to the real me?
Allow me to show my true self?
Or am I trapped in the past?

How can I discover the new me,
If you will not let it exist?
Will you listen and hear my new words?
Or turn your head away,
Trying to recall the old?

How can I know myself,
If I am never allowed to be me?
How can I be who I have become,
When you try to hold me back?

Source: written for my creative writing class, I don't remember the assignment, though I believe it had something to do with the title being a question maybe.