Roses in Concrete

Tejashree Sonawane
IX – B

I am trapped
I am a prisoner in the void
A void that was once mine
Now someone else’s

It controls me
Makes me do things I don’t want to
My fingernails are lilies with blood
My body carved with an axe
The river reaching the sea
Eyes pitch dark with solitude
My feet plastered to the ground

I was on a road to nowhere
Unaware of the driver
The unfriendly breath on my shoulder
Hands that weren’t mine lurked over my body
I was drowning in an empty pond
Thorns were the only things that met my eye
My thoughts were lighted candles no breath could blow

Every day was battle between me
and the squeaky little voice in the back of my head
It prevailed every day
And I was thrown all the way down

I was dragged by hands unknown to me
their eyes gleaming with hunger and starvation
hands ready with a shiny knife to clean my insides
like a finger brushing a table eating dust

I shut down I was robbed
The voice proliferated
I was a stranger within myself
I wanted to crawl up
To the small unexplored Corners of the room
Where I would be robbed
I had left my body
My soul – the treat

Sitting in the corner
A phosphorescent streak came by
Blinding me with its lustre and shine
I blinked twice
And I know I was wise
To follow the light.