Where we can not express ourselves
Merely because of the watchful eyes surrounding us
Where siblings turn their cheeks to one another
Stabbing each other's backs in the race for the spotlight
Where the dark edges of one's mind grow
Sweeping their vision until all one sees is the dark
Where kids take knives to their wrists
Their blood as bright as their painted smiles
Where Mothers and Fathers leave
Their children always wondering, Am I good enough?
Where one man's actions go far and deep
Engraved in history I see his faults
Where I can not be myself for fear of not being accepted
I pick up my mask and lock my mental shields,
I'm ready to be somebody else today

So I say again,
Welcome to Reality, there is no escape

I didn't choose this.
I didn't choose these crushing walls around me.
These walls that "protect" me are just another source of my pain.
I stand at the doorway and watch as a lifer is swept away.
I hear a crack;
My heart it throbs.
I didn't choose to be this way.
My ideas, my worth, forgotten.
My skin defines my future.
Keep your eyes down, don't speak up,
Don't seek pity and NEVER disobey the law.
I didn't choose this country.
Bombs and gunfire fill the sky as kids scream.
We huddle in a building, praying.
Not knowing if we will get clean food for tomorrow.
I didn't choose that night.
The night that he touched me.
I tried to escape, but he hurt me instead.
The bruises and the scars ache as I remember.
The pain, the aggression, have forever tainted me.
I didn't choose this world.
The pollution, the divide.
A masterpiece burned, scarred, destroyed.
Family and friends **** each other.
The issues stack up until they crush us.
I didn't choose this mind;
Plagued by self-hate;
Debating if it's worth it.
Truly it must be better than this.
Right?
We didn't choose these things,
but we can choose to break free of boundaries.
You do have a choice.

I understand physics and chemistry
I understand pain and love
I understand how I broke the chains I was bound by
But I don't understand words
How can something pain someone so deeply
While bearing the greatest joy to someone
Delicately placed, strokes of handcrafted art
Telling me I'm worthless
I don't understand them
Invisible things that help and heal
Burn and deceive, revealing old wounds
The invented passageway to our hearts and souls
So beautiful, but so very complex
Why do they lie?
I will never understand them.