The Cage | Teen Ink

The Cage

April 16, 2015
By MWM062697 SILVER, Portland, Maine
MWM062697 SILVER, Portland, Maine
7 articles 0 photos 4 comments


I am caught in a trap of my own making.
I forged the silver bars. I wove the net.
Every link in the chain is my own creation.
I wasn't compelled,
Forced,
Tortured into it.
I did it of my own free will,
Without thinking.
Wisdom fled.
I thought it could protect me,
When there was nothing else.
And so I made
A beautiful,
Invisible,
Poisonous,
Web.
Quite a feat.
It's strong as steel.
It took year after year,
Sunlight and starlight,
To raise the glass wall.
I did not know that I had made a Midas wish.
The king had wealth; but what else!
No nourishment,
No contact, 
And worse then any revenge,
No love.
He nearly died.
"The world is savage", I said.
"You can be cheated and hurt at every turn,
Draw back.
Avoid attention.
Avoid all pain!
That lightless horrible illness
Will take everything away!"
I did not ask advice.
I did not edit the thought.
But now my dreams are fleeing,
Those around me are hurt,
And I cannot let myself be the burning spark from the infinite,
The only great equalizer,
The great hidden path.
I struggle to get free;
My only opponent is myself.


The author's comments:

This poem is about inner fears and how dangerous they are. Often, our archenemy is one's yak brain or id, which keeps us from being our true self.

Don't hide behind a glass wall.


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