Society’s noose fed the rope around my neck

Teaching me to hate the things I used to love about myself

Whispering that maybe I deserve to be strung up and forgotten

Binding and suffocating, warping and wrapping

Lashed to a pedestal of hatred and stagnation

I yearn to be free from these ropes that bind me

My rope necklace tightens

Mangles my already tangled mind with its words,

And suddenly my feet leave the ground

I’ve never had the weight lift off my shoulders so fast

Nor have I ever heard the sweet calls of birdsong above my stooped head

For the first time, I feel the summer breeze upon my face

In the ever lengthening cycle I fall

Still held in place but this time away from the cool wind

Back where I only taste bitter disappointment in my mouth instead of freedom

I long to place my rubber worn soles against the ground

To break my bindings and run again

Somewhere where I can’t feel rope burns across my neck

     — Somewhere Where I am Free