Sehnsucht

I can’t be content with an eternal perch,
Made out of gold though they tell me it is;
I don’t want to stay in the only place I’ve known.
There has to be more outside this gilded cage
For which I’ve constantly heard I should be grateful.
I want to—I need to—fly as far away as I can,
Even if it means exhausting my undeveloped wings
And plunging into the murderous ocean.
I can’t help this longing for a place other than here;
I’m homesick for a place I wish I could go.

Sometimes I think I’ll do anything to leave;
No matter what the cost I can’t take this
Tugging at my heartstrings any longer.
I have to stop this desire which plucks at
The stitches embedded in my heart.
I want to get out so much it makes my
Throat burn with unvoiced screams,
But I’m tied down with reasons I never asked for.
I don’t even know where I’d go if I was free;
I’m homesick for a place I’ve never been.

i am

i am a lowercase person.
my eyes are entranced by shadows
as i drift through life,
never rising to meet another pair.
i prefer gray so that i don’t have to choose
between black and white.
when i am silent i am invisible.
i hardly even exist unless
i prove it with my voice.

i am told we are all unique,
we all come from stardust.
there is no excuse
to not make something of ourselves.
i do not deny that
the iron in our blood comes from the stars
but i deny their definition of success.
i am something.
i am a lowercase person.