We are allowing ourselves to be manipulated
by a false narrative of structured thought
that strips us of our natural intuition
to find joy and happiness
in the basic and simple things in life
We are born creative and loving and kind
and that is slowly stolen from us
as we are pushed through an educational system
that programs us into a belief system
of follow a path of repetition to find success in life
We are branded with an artificial
definition of intelligence
these are the important facts
and these are childish whims and hobbies
Do this and don’t do that....

work play
work work play
work work work play
work work work work work play
work work work work work work work work
work work work work work work hard enough
and maybe one day save enough money
and then you can afford a small vacation
and then back to work work work...

know the facts
past the test
find a job and repeat the same thing
over and over and over....
then some where along the line
find someone who is comfortable
with having the bare minimum
of what you are allowed
to believe we deserve
date
****
marry
buy a house
a car
reproduce
and push those offspring
through the same structure of repetition

When and where along the line
did we become so numb and negligent
to think that this is a life worth living for
worth fighting for
and at our very worst moments in history...
worth dying for?  
Nothing about this
is a natural way of living

We are prisoners to a vocabulary
of useless ideologies
that we have built around our own minds...

the caged bird sings
only because we allow it
to see enough of the blue sky
to dream of flight and freedom
and then while it sleeps
we secretly trim its wings
so it can never venture past
the bars of the only home
it has and will ever know...

and this is what we have given up
and continue to give up
our ability to dream
is our ability to do better
to be better
and yet we settle for a life of something less...