I have clung to every word and story they have given me
Feeling the way they soak so far through my skin
It seeps and sits in my heart.

Sadly, you can not hold me like I have held you.

I am a cactus sitting alone in the dry desert night.

I am stuck in the constant routine of societal norms
And I can see the windows that surround me on my four walled cage;
Out there past the trees reside mountains green.

Here I am inside
Counting down every second of every minute staring at an open freedom
Just right outside
But I sit in my office chair
Listening to the repeating song
Of a phone's ring.

My heart goes out there
Flying on the breeze
But my mind and physical body remain in a money making schedule
Covered in invisible chains.
Starving.

They don't see it in my tired eyes
But my lungs are suffocating
From the repeat
Every week
And I'm convinced the only thing that could give me air
Is the oxygen outside of this building
And a sip of freedom.