Shackled

Shackled

Shackled, i walk up your suffocated stairways,
Fettered, i squirm on your crowded sidewalks,
Chained, i trudge the streets of your city,
.. and they tell me i am free!

Potted, i grow-up timid in your courtyard!
tamed, i learn to endure in your schools!
Harnessed, i pledge to abide by your rules!
.. and they tell me i am free ..
Stalked on the street, i run for shelter,
Chased-out, i wander from shelter afar ..
Hounded by your gaze, i writhe in sleep!
and they tell me i am free ..

Beaten at your fine game, your clever tricks ever-triumphant!
Broken by the drafty artfulness of your gimmick!
Turned, twisted, looped into knots by your metaphors!
Framed! by the mastered deceit of your rescript!
Shoved into the alleys of stiffled expression,
Herded into compliance with the whip-lash of shame,
Veiled to the eyebrows by your dictate of virtue ... they tell me i am free!

Mistrust me, mistreat me, frame me, chain me, shackle me,
throw me into the abyss, but don't tell me 'how bad it could be'!
Shame me into subservience, Guilt me into obedience,
Suffer me into silence, don't tell me i am free!

Me, through the day today