Cages We Carry

When I was a kid, I learned survival’s first lesson That protruded from my veins The world divides from the the hunters and the hunted The tiger etches its laws in the shadows Hawks hold the cord of its Prey whos fate is sealed under an unforgiving sun But I never knew a parasite would rise Not even in the darkest vice As rotten fruit dont meet the sky That I would find The line seperating the savage and the city To blur as chaos thrives between a line as thin as breath as fragile as memory And predators wear human skin I always had the shielded wings of A utopia that painted the world in shades of black and white Its bitter pill which I clutched in my mind that gave me life Pulsing pulsing under the gleam of an invisible knife Whispering: “Stay small, stay quiet, survive” But reality’s variety had more: Angry mobs set flames to streets Their wild marks imprint a thousand streaks The world burns in its own flame A harmony shifts into cries Do they ever feel sorry 7 years old and an expert at staying small Twisting my frame for every cage the world hurls my way But now I am told I can be free but I still allow my head to touch my knees As My dreams dance on the horizon At the click of ignition The car carries me away Ripping my roots from the ground My anchors scream And a quiet war slowly plays in my mind Where fear finds a foothold Whispering into my ear You dont belong here The first day of school My presence spells displacement Their stares become borders Voices suffocating me as I feel my chest aching Filling the holes I feel Is there anyone out there My call is only met with Whispers Those piercing stares until Silence. You don’t belong here So I desperately search for another cage A substitute to ease my pain from Being in a loving hold To a Cold, flat, place I just need an embrace I am no longer the Stranger kid No more 2nd tries One impression is all it takes for me to wear a mask I measure my almond eyes Reflection shows a shrinking frame You loser I try Telling myself to wash away all the pain But each cruel word a storm And each new day a struggle to Repel the ignorance and find myself But deep inside Something started to brew I am The wild, untamed breath Who breaks free of the cages Who finds his wings even if they hesitate to unfurl I will rise Over rivers of doubt and Thorns of ignorance Not as prey Not as predator But as pure unbridled possibility finding the boundless sky