they cannot contain nonconformity, they already have my soul locked up in a cellar, a speechless being with incitement and spark, removed
from the body: but as the transition approaches, so does my representation in society
     I MATTER
I MATTER
              I MATTER
a lifting of faith and aspiring traits, moving the crowds of martyrs amongst the claimed saints

opinionated with my provoked past, and ripped from my own voice, i regained a
spirit indescribable, far more powerful than anger: but instead, harmony and composure
               I MATTER
I MATTER
                 (my voice counts, giving quirk and spark to the souls in awe)

YOU MATTER
YOU MATTER

black lives matter, as in the same sense
/all lives matter/

On every side was a wall of mesh
And in the middle she sat
What is out there beyond these walls? She wondered.
What if her visions of the world outside were false?
She was caged

She grew tired of her little house
What if I could get on the other side?
What if my wings were made not to only beautify?
She wondered

One push and her mesh house gave way
She stepped out and was greeted by the sunrays
Then she slipped, for her house was high up in a tree
She was falling; this must be the end of me
She cried

Suddenly, she noticed others with wings like hers
Why weren't they falling, crying?
Then she saw why and so she spread her wings
And for the first time she flapped them
She flew

And so began a new life for her
The world she dreamed of was right before her
She found herself, she found her wings, she learned to fly
She lived her dream, she soared up high
She was free

The moon called upon my madness anew,
I closed my eyes and fought against the chains
That kept me waiting, waiting here for you.

You gulped down my world without so much a chew,
Enveloped everything with your scent, became my raving bane.
The chains, the chains garlanded in lilac and rue,

Alone keep me from going moonlight-mad, so they do.
The gentle ice face of the mother moon keeps penetrating my brain.
That kept me waiting, waiting here for you.

This is the stage set for the heavenly wars Ares loves to brew,
The battle fought over our love so strong that left it slain.
The chains, the chains garlanded in lilac and rue,

The chains, the chains made of silver came askew,
Like your hands in mine and whatever feelings may still remain,
That kept me waiting, waiting here for you.

My madness has awoken the moon-bird blue,
Soon it will fly down and cut through the silvery veins.
The chains, the chains garlanded in lilac and rue,
That kept me waiting, waiting here for you.

you scoff as he rubs wings into my shoulders
and life into my mouth
i am free with him
he has cupped me in his hands like a butterfly
let me go so many times
but i come back
(because i was always his in the first place)

i wonder why you want to be tied around his wrist like a balloon
don't you have feelings, too
perhaps children cry when they let go of the string
up
up
into the sky
(too selfish to understand that you would be happy if you could just fly)

If I could press each thought I've spoken
into a dandelion head
and if 'promise' weren't a word,
then I'd promise you that I would.
Still, somehow I almost do with the look I just gave you.
But no sound is a word I could just leave there behind me.
Imagine this tugging,
I feel it
like tassels on a shadow moving across the floor.
Sometimes I can feel them dragging
there and exposed to the places I pass through.
But somehow they blend me
into the surface of this world.
And so I let them do it,
Blur my rigid outline
just to make me something more
than this shape your eyes have given me.

They like to hold us on a leash
and chain our eagle wings.
They tell us we're stuck
and that we're never getting out.
They hate our rebellious spirits
and spit on our self-ruling dreams.
But darling, we're the wild ones,
and one day, we will be free.

what if my cage
is out of sight;
rather
inside my mind?

these shackles
cling to my wrists
can you see them?

you envy my freedom--
one you perceive me
possessing;

one I never
truly
ever had.