I thought home was

where my dreams could fly

where my joy and comfort lie

But all I see are hollow streets

and grey hands grasping at

a fading sky

Silence was the only way

for me to continue

counting my days

But the air is thick with

silent

screams

They deliver their

empty promises

through soulless voices

Freedom

is just a blanket

to cover us from the beautiful stars

I see the outside through

a rusted keyhole

a flicker of somewhere else

Somewhere softer

somewhere far

yet

My passport is a shackle

my papers are chains

every exit is a locked door

I whisper to the wind but

the wind does not carry voices

only orders

Don’t think.

Don’t feel.

Don’t run.

I begged the sky to open

but it has long departed

it never listens anymore

The once blinking stars

now stare back at me

ominously

I have walked to the city’s edge, but the roads only lead back

and there is no way out

there is no way out

there is no way out

only the walls I was born into, only the faces that never change

only the days that stretch like shadows, only the nights that I lay awake

If I cannot leave

If I cannot breathe

If I cannot dream

Then what is left

for me here

Perhaps

just maybe

One step beyond time

My final breath

a boundless space

I have the fear of death

no longer