Imagine a man with a dream
to live free.
He would breathe this dream.
He would smell this dream
everywhere he went.
He spent every cent earned
toward making it a reality.
“Just a little bit more,” he said,
as he clocked in another day.
And the prices rose
as he went to work,
leaving him less and less
for himself.
“Guess I’ll have to work a little more,”
he thought,
as the gas for his car
blew outside his budget sheets.
He started spending the money he saved
just to make ends meet.
A small inkling led him to believe
that maybe he was working toward a dream
he would have to abandon.
“Hogwash,”
he brushed off the anxiety
and clocked in,
working toward his destiny.
He grew skinny
as he skipped meals
just to save a little more.
Yet the resources kept running low,
as he earned the same
but spent more
and more
and more,
like the ones taking had no floor,
and the ones giving
were reduced to their own soul
just for an ounce of security.
The man came home exhausted
and looked into the mirror.
The chains on his hands, now rusted,
went from sounding like bells of harmony
to nails on a chalkboard.
He saw his place in society
and thought,
“They want me to be happy, right?”
he said,
as the mirror spoke: "..."
Sometimes the absence of an answer
is answer enough.
He had lost the will to even scream.
He had to save his energy
to go clock in,
for daring to be a cog
and having a dream.