Release

These words stampede across my mind

But bleed dry as they hit the page

And the animal in my chest beats against her cage

So delicate, made of ribs—

And I created this.

My mouth breathes to fill my lungs

The part in my lips a house to a million to one

Thoughts, ideas... this breath passes over the silence

A scream, a roar to be heard

A million to none.

And I created this.

When it all came to courage and self-defense

A defense in a sense of what part is left

From right on this shelf

My face held so many smiles

And they carried on formiles

Like the lines in my eyes

Axis of eternity held on the cusp of vision

Spread out over that horizon

Calling like the drums that still beat in my bones

A rhythm that rises like the swell of the ocean

Ever shifting ebb and flow

Embers dim in their relentless glow

And I created this.

These mountains and trees promise to set me free

And these grains of sand promise a safe place to land

And these crashing waves tell a story

Of an animal that beats against her cage

The one she made.

Created with breath spent over silence, over years

Over worries and fears, over blood, over tears

Over every hope and dream cast in the loss of courage to speak.

This animal was brave, but she faltered—

Lost her step, and forgot how to speak.

And I created this.

This animal forgot she was strange and terrifying

And a force to be reckoned with

She forgot she was beautiful and compassionate

She forgot that she can't make homes out of humans

And that she alone holds her answers to all the "What-ifs" and "It depends"

And I created this.

Walking barefoot in the home I've made

And I cut my feet on things never said

And I.... I created this.

This animal raging against her cage

Hides behind the mask of my face.

I alone hold the key...

And it's time to be free.