I am bound by heavy chains,
Chains of broken swings
The dark room I am in,
Broke my healthy wings.
It has clasped me
In its fierce claws
And now I can't see
Even if there are anymore laws.

The heaviness,
Oh, it's hard to bear
I try choking my breath
But I promised
I will take care,
I won't wreak the life I'll miss
Even if someone already did.

I fall on my knees,
Giving up after
All the pain I felt
And had to bear
While struggling in vain
For something,
But no one cares.

Just then,
A speck of light
Creeps through a crack
The dusty ray,
Falls on my feet, now slack
Calling me by my name
Trying to lift me up,
From this gloomy game.

Taking the warm hand,
I get up with high hopes
But then I realise
I am bound by ropes
Of the tight and heavy chains.

The warmth tells me
Not to stop,
"But I can't move," I say.
"Don't lose hope,
Please come this way."

Clasping his hand,
I move forward
Wishing I could elope
With him from this place
And I won't give up,
If I'm still in this race
I would walk faster,
Increasing my pace.

Suddenly, the chains crack,
Its cracking lullaby
Echoes in this hollow rack.

My feet lift,
Taking a bigger step,
And they rift
The ground that kept
My strength away from me
It's my turn now
To make marks on it
And I somehow
Stab my feet in it
Making it feel the pain I felt
When I was known to be a misfit.

The warmth of his hands,
Supporting when I fall
The warmth of his hand
Bringing me up
When I crawl.

Another step I take,
Not my biggest mistake
Because then,
The chains finally break.

I look up at the sky,
At the dancing auroras
Waving me goodbye,
Singing their fake silent lullaby.

Another step forward,
And my heart will prance
Under the lovely light,
My feet will dance,
Embracing me in
A whole new trance,

*Embracing me in
A whole new trance.

I break through the barriers
You set in my life
Look past the decisions
That took your future out of sight

You didn’t see the hope
That could’ve made your breath matter
You just took that needle
And watched your dreams shatter

I was always told
That your laugh was contagious
You’d light up that room
Like nobody else, they’d say this

I wish I could just see it
To see you at your best
Even when you hid the scars
Buried underneath your chest

I wish they didn’t judge you
I wish they just loved you
I wish they didn’t show you hatred
But told you,
you could make it

Because even a gloomy moon’s reflection
Can show the light
A man with no direction
Still has a reason to fight
A man with no good intentions
Can still choose what’s right
A man with no vision
Still has sight

You just had to look.
Look past the corruption
To understand that the
Idols led to nothing

The ****** that filled your veins
That caused you pain
That controlled your brain
That made you go insane
Was not an unbreakable chain

People tell me I shouldn’t
Think about my past
They say it’s only my future I should grasp
They say I can’t learn anything
From the life you lived
Cause the decisions you made
Have nothing to give

But dad,
I don’t listen
I think of you often
I try to understand
The purpose of your coffin
I try to understand
Why you wanted to be forgotten
I try to understand
Why you thought your life was rotten
Because that is far from the truth
You were just strapped to a bomb
You didn’t know how to diffuse

So you did teach me something
That no matter the mess
I will never give up on the people
Society defines helpless
Or turn my back
on someone who’s in distress
Because they’re lost
And they forget what it feels like to be blessed

And so I want to live
My life so I can prove
That no matter your situation
It can be renewed
And no matter the chains
They can be removed
Because the life we live
Is not a life to loose

Because even a gloomy moons reflection
Can show the light
A man with no direction
Still has a reason to fight
A man with no good intentions
Can still choose what’s right
A man with no vision
Still has sight.

                           You just have to look.

A desolate town
Broken windows
Dusty roads
Rusted gates
Dead front lawns
Under a porch half rotted away
You'll find...
A cat nursing her kittens
New life, new beginnings
A star shines bright
In the dark night sky

© Crystal Erickson

When words are hard to come by
And they have deserted you
Life starts to feel dreary without them
Unable to express your feelings
Carry cans of spray paints
To color the walls around you
Marvel at the riot of colors
The best graffiti to have ever painted
Walls can be your inspiration
Only if you look at the brighter side