though speaking is forbidden
thoughts are not
though love must be hidden
it is they who call the shots
we get no choice
no voice
no freedom
to do what we want
and where
they all preach freedom
they all claim equality
but where is freedom when you're bound by restraints
where is equality when you're shunned by your race
you can't change your heart, your mind, your path
you can't change your sad, your happy, your wrath
when it all comes down to it
it is up to them
what you do
when you do it
and where
you can't spin around and twirl in your favorite dress
for there are restraints and that's disrespect
you can't laugh aloud and smile real big
for there are restraints and that's completely rigged
restraints, restraints
i want you to be no more
my heart is bleeding from the label: you *****
my body is sore,
let me go
let me free
i want to soar like the birds above the trees
spread my wings and fly real high
if i falter, i'll just have to try
again and again until i get things right
i'll never stop, no not out of fright
i wont give up without a fight
all i want is to be free
to say goodbye to restraints
hello to the breeze
but that's not okay is it?
to want to be me
rules and regulations
they rule this world
society itself is a huge firebird
that plows through the cities,
fire on its wings
burning through the houses and girls' confidence
society is cruel, no not fair nor just
there is no freedom of speech or rights
restraints they are there
forever in a day
they tell you what to do
and they tell you what to say
and if you rebel
punishment will come your way
they take away your little freedom and send you into dispair
so you must play their games and deal with the rules
just count down the days until you can absolve into a big crowd and say goodbye
to this life you once lived with no freedom or life
one day their restraints will no longer contain you
you will be a bird in a cage with the door wide open
so wait little birdie
keep your strength hidden away
for one day you'll spread your wings and set to the sky
away and away from this terrible life
full of restraints,
no voice
no choice
no freedom

wait little bird
for your day to be free

Inside the cages
The freedom
is the heaven

In the chains
any change
is welcome

The outside prison
is calling out to you
the invisible chains
binding everyone on earth
who go up, are falling down
it is just like what is in this home

Still the ravens are up
true to their wing
and we are in a place
to go nowhere

Yearning to feel
to breathe the fresh air
get an experience
to be unbound
get the heartbeats
to beat back to the music

The time when all
the shackles are broken
The time spins
and we have nowhere to go
but we run
towards the sun
But we can't fly.

"Would you look at
all these free souls
carrying their cages
wherever they go?"

People are free. their minds free. their speech free. free from slavery. free. but are they truly, free? They have built cages for themselves. They never want to come out of them. We pray to God. unquestionably. unfailingly. but why do we fail to question the real reason why we pray to God? why are we searching for him in statues and people when we know he left this place a long time ago? and if he didn't leave, why do we celebrate what he created and not question what he destroyed? why do we fight to save someone we can't see or feel against the very people he created?
Until people come out of the cages, we may never get the answer to these questions.

here we are again
the edge of the world
the streetlights far behind us
and your smile in the hazy dark

truth be told
we tiptoed out of our cages
bringing old notebooks and sleepless dreams
tripping into each other's laughs

it has been months since it was like this
the uncertainty of your hand on my wrist
hushed whispers in the dead of the night
and I feel weight slip off my spine

our feet carry us to the only place of solace that we know
and even in the weeks of forgetting
in the time I let the sea carry you away
we will always find our way back here

and you start telling me of his steady hands
I remember that yours were never like that
so I smile at the thought of you belonging somewhere
after years of wandering aimlessly

so you make sand towers like you always do
and I look for seashells like I always do
the sea is singing lullabies to the two weary souls
and my pulse is humming with it

you race me to the water
and the stars glitter as you wade through them
the wind whips our hair into a tangled mess of ink
and I barely reach you when you start to speak

you recite dead languages to my fingertips
all I can think of is the promise of a sweet death
your voice against my sea-kissed skin
and the only eyes that could drown me

we drag ourselves to the shore
shaking the sand from our hair
we get blankets to wrap around our shoulders
and I feel the corners of my mouth tilt up

side by side
all of the languages of the world dead to us now
as we breathe in the sweetness of escape
and our heads tilt towards each other

you ask me what I look for in someone
and I trace swirls into the sand for a while
because I don't know
and maybe I have never known

almost two decades of this fragile life
almost everyone I’ve loved only people of my imagination|
and I kid myself with the question
and maybe I’m just afraid of the answer

but I draw the constellations in my mind as I whisper to myself
"you."

Scars filled bodies
Wounded hearts
And empty souls.
But don't spread your hands
In front of someone
Because that is only going to get you more pain and longing hours.
Go back to
Where you came from
That's your cage
Your corner
That's where you belong.

The beast inside me lies dormant.
At least for now.
Someday soon it will awaken
And I have no idea when, but it will somehow.

It might arouse me from sleep in the dead of night
Or it could attack when there’s nothing I can do.
But, regardless, it will live again
And I'll have no control when it breaks through.

I can try to fight it, as many times as it takes,
But it will always return stronger than before,
An incredible force against my small power.
For now, though, it sleeps silently, unable to roar.

I'm simply numb from its absence
Numb from the temporary quiet of this beast
But it will awake once more, and I'll lose myself again
When from its cage it is released.