My Chains

I feel the cold metal and its lifeless hold around my neck.

I feel its weight in my limbs even after they have been removed

Their bind on me was not a punishment

They were more like a reminder

A reminder, that I am different.

The gold that glitters in these irises

It tells a story

A story of pain and hidden fear

Of longing and dreaming, but never achieving.

Marked at birth by the scar of beauty

Everywhere I look, there's someone looking back at me.

The prying eyes that watch my every move

My life documented by strangers

My choices made by everyone else but me

I'm no longer imprisoned in a cage of stone

I am held fast in a web of lies that only entangle me more

I run

I try to run

But again I feel that weight on my limbs

They are not on me, but in me, these chains…