Locked Away
You strip away my speech
and hold my thoughts captive
You shove my feelings in a closet
You tie me down and tape my mouth
hoping that I won’t make a sound
or take a look around
My words are shivering
in a corner on the floor
There they sit
as if in timeout
My words are afraid
they do not dare to come out
My thoughts are trapped
They are stuck in a drawer
They crave nothing more
than the ability to freely explore
At this given moment
my thoughts would even settle for
the mildly exciting adventure of a Sunday chore
My feelings are behind lock and key
They are stuck in a creaky attic
The door is barricaded
My feelings are ill-fated
They won’t ever get out
They won’t be allowed to make a sound
not even when they swell and change and yell
My feelings are eternally forced to sit and dwell
as they rot away in their cell
