Boxed

Boxed determinations Fermenting on the shelf on inaction Restrained trails of thought Chained to a monument of stereotypes Boxed in a steel cage Never to emerge Supreme In my prime Boxed in concrete walls Of fragile ego collapse Scared of their thoughts and their words, ‘You can’t do that; you can’t say that!’ ‘I know what you’re thinking...don’t!’ The many windows penetrate too deep I plug the chimney Preferring to be boxed in indifferent Inviting only the company of emptiness Still it violates my privacy The soul seekers, Their blinding glances Cancerous to my pale skin My shadow keeps me company I watch it conduct like a ballerina Mingling freely with all that I fear to touch Launching, occasionally escaping the box As it shifts and grows Minute by hour by day And die with me by night The black cat offered milk The sudden squeak The chime of the clock The knock I imagined For no one ever comes I decorate my box To reflect my depravity The pounding of my heart losing trust in this trap Thrusting and pumping to escape What I feel is rage The insecurity on my box The dripping in the sink I feel like I’m being hunted Why am I cowering, Am I the prey? I pray To think further than these four walls For the strength to breakdown these barriers For the wisdom to destroy it brick by brick You've been lying to me all along You're not all that I know, all there is I reach for the box And it crumbles to the ground In my will to change In my determination for a life Outside the box