We wake up every morning, and muster on command
Zombies, thoughtless we submit
There are pleasantries, but no one really cares
We shuffle, shuffle, shuffle on

Everyone reports to their assigned rooms, or else
That punishment is far worse than the normal torture we face
For hours we are bombarded, brainwashed, indoctrinated
Then they see fit to let us eat.
But don’t mistake the cacophonous noise we make for joy
We just don’t know any better.

Afternoons, yard time. At least they give us that freedom,
Let us roam the broader extent of our cage, rather than
Confining us to a sullen corner of the kennel.
But even in this false freedom they make us believe, “Look what we do, for you.”

Sometimes we get visitors, then they make us dance and play
“Look how they dance for us, watch us pull the strings”
For we are well trained, or are now so lost in our own
Hopelessness and nightmarish existence that we no longer care
Don’t care what is real.
It’s easier not to think.

They crack the whip, we cringe. “Jump” they say
So we jump.
At last misery coils, hiding her venomous fangs
And we sleep, not to find true solace
But instead it is what we are told to do.
And we do what we are told to do.
Why? Because it is they who tell us to do it.

Now, the bell chimes
Again, already?
So we shuffle, shuffle, shuffle on our way
Round and round the cage
As the light of will fades.