Caged in Modern Existence

I am but a rat caught in a cage.

I bite down on the cold metal bars until my jaw gives out.

I gnaw and yank until my teeth break away.

I scratch at every small opening and possibility.

I throw myself against the walls and leap around in a panic, desperate to break free.

I always exhaust myself and lie down, sweaty and bloody from every failed attempt.

Panting, I wonder if this is the reality that I will be forced to accept.

Perhaps this is all that ever was and ever will be for me…

But I know there must be more.

In my finite mind I remember shadows of greatness, of a reality beyond this restraint that I once dwelled in.

I hunger for it, for the freedom and the beauty of what could be.

The longer I wait, the further away it all seems.

My memories and longings for it become clouded with complacency.

I feel myself slowly starving and disintegrating into a nothingness that is more terrifying than any beast or bird I could face outside of here.

The fear drives me to my feet again, sore and battered but unable to rest.

I know there must be a simple answer hidden away that I am incapable of seeing.

I can’t step back to look at the big picture without reaching another wall.

So I return to my fight against these impassable wires, watching glimpses of what I truly long for pass just out of my reach.

There must be a latch, a spring, something.

Because with every moment my strength wanes…

I feel doubts rushing in like the steps of my captors, coming to finish me off before I have even begun to truly live.

And I will fight till the end of my existence before I lose that fight.