Poised for Branding.
Here I'm standing.
A child, so young and innocent.
Never worth a chance.
Never taught to fly.
With a path set in stone.
And one simple goal.
With a motive of protection.
Minutes, days, years pass.
But you can't force a caged bird to sing.
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I'm watched him for a while now, and it's getting quite upsetting. He says I know him best, but I hardly know anything about him. I know he's sad. He often comes to me with ideas and suggestions. Saying we could run away together. But I must decline his offers. That makes him sad.
He doesn't love me. He doesn't know what love is. I understand him, I know what makes him happy, what makes him sad. I know what he wants from life, and I know I'm the only person he'll ever open up to. I know him well, but that's not love. That's care and understanding.
He'd protect me with his life, even if it wasn't his job. I know this. He says he hates me. But that's because my understanding of him, what he presumes love, would make him weak. That I understand as well.
He wants to run away. To escape this place. And yet he is afraid. He's afraid of what he wants. It would be a change, freedom. He's never felt it. The closest he's felt to it is me. That's not love, that's desire.
It must be hard to be called a genius, and never really understand things. He's a prodigy, you know. And the family wants to keep him as a resource. To protect me. So they won't let him go.
So long ago did I have feelings for him. I pity him now. He took the easy way out. He used to sing to only me, that bird. How I miss my cousin.