CAPTIVITY

I surge forward with renewed vigour,
But the iron fetters hold me back,
I struggle to raise myself out of the blankness,
But the soft darkness manages to engulf me still.
Cacophony reigns all around,
No solitude to break my fall,
Foreign voices resound in my mind,
I know not truth from lies.

The bound hands and the chained feet,
No longer bring me any despair,
The invasion of my sacred paradise,
Has now made it my personal hell.
My thoughts no longer hold meaning,
My mind’s not the safe haven it was,
You have filled it with the words of others,
My voice is lost in the purposeless din.

My head is filled with this enforced numbness,
All my thoughts are stifled,
No feelings find their way into this chaos,
I am subliming into an empty shell.
My endurance has reached its zenith,
Patience has almost given in,
This torment has become unbearable,
How blasphemous was my sin?

No moments of peace for me to reflect,
Not a moment’s respite from the monotony of action,
No chance to plunge into the depths of my mind,
Never a reason to think...
Your chains have made me a captive,
And they go beyond the confines of my body,
You’ve managed to restrict my mind,
Forced me to think along constrained lines...

No longer can I claim an identity,
I have nothing I can call my own;
You have rooted out all that held meaning,
Leaving behind a shadow of what was...
You’ve taken captivity a step further,
Dealt capital punishment along with it,
I still breathe and my heart does beat,
But you’ve killed all that within me could live...
-Tanya Mishra