Trapped

Trapped

Like an antique vase you’ve been locked away,
Sitting silently on some shelf
Collecting dust.
You peer out the window panes
At a world you’ll never know.
Poor china doll, too fragile to play.
Forehead pressed to glass,
You leave smudges when you breathe
Til your mother calls your name,
And you abandon your hiding place.
Lightning strikes outside
And you long to be beside it,
Running through the rain,
Face upturned to the sky.
Instead you take your place at table,
Hands folded,
Head bowed
As your mother teaches lessons
And your mind drifts away.
You learn the outside words,
Words for things you’ve never seen,
Things you’ve never touched.
Flower, tree, grass, rain, sun,
But you have never known one of these.
At night you read your books
And dream of faraway places,
Of freedom and sunshine and the sea.
In your dreams you’re a princess,
A butterfly, an astronaut.
Or just beneath a tree,
Outside where you long to be.