There she sits in her narrow room
Room narrow and tall
The room a cave cold and dark
With a shelf on the wall

To her left there sits a table
Covered in tiny jars
And to the right there is a window
Lined, of course, with bars

Every day that starts anew
She rises with the sun
Shuffling over to her table
Her job has begun

She grabs a jar and whispers
Filling each one with light
Then seal them up quickly now
Seal them up tight

Holding the jar carefully in her hands
She shuffles to her shelf
And places it with the other ones
Each one part of herself

The shelf is covered in them
The little bottles filled with color
Sparkling reds, blues, yellows
All arranged around each other

And so the day begins
They come now to her cave
Arms reaching through the bars
It’s her bottles that they crave

So one by one she gives them out
One, two, five, then ten
Soon she’ll run out of jars
Time to refill again

Each bottle given out
To another reaching hand
Gets swallowed up in one gulp
So quickly it gets crammed

They drink it all down
Then they sway with delight
A toothy grin left on their face
A sort of high it excites

But soon the smile is gone
Their eyes snap back open
They fill with panic needing more
Realizing how much they’re broken

They rush back to the bars
Reaching gnawing clawing
Please, just one more
But her body now is falling

It’s become too much
There is nothing left
She collapses crying out
Soul now bereft

So the sun sets and they go away
They leave her alone now
Until tomorrow when the sun rises
This prison is her vow