did you really like me?*
you left me. you left

On the fringes of sanity
Frayed pages from a chapter
In a long forgotten book

A tale no one cares to read
Binding creased and stitching coming undone
"Read Me!" I shout, no one hears

I am not alone though
Shelves lined with thousands
No one notices until we fall

Fall from our place among the others
Then destroyed, no one realizes
We've been falling apart for years

Only after we are forever lost
Is it a "shame"

A gentle rustling
                   Breaks the silence,
                                                     THUD!!

she yearns for freedom;
and craves to be liberated.
she wants to be released
like a bird, she says.
but i look at her
and whisper,
*even the birds are
chained to the sky.

you're not your hair:
you can cut it dye it curl it straighten it shave it bend it twist it;

you're not your face:
you can hide it under layers of make-up you can put on lenses you can change your face in a matter of minutes;

you're not your skin:
you can cut it draw on it bite it tear it;

you're not your body:
you can lose weight gain weight;

you're not your clothes:
strip them off;

never reduce
yourself
to
a colour
a number
an adjective
a noun

never reduce
yourself
to a simple
word

you are
the thoughts you have at 3 a.m.
the lame jokes you tell your friends
the art you create
the books you read
the pages you have dog-eared
the quotes you have highlighted
the coffee you never finished drinking
the movie you watch after midnight, wrapped in a blanket
the chocolate cake you ate that night with that girl
the slice of pizza you could've eaten but you gave to your best friend
the kiss that still burns on your lips
the cigarettes that sting in your lungs long after you smoked them
the dreams you dream
the worlds you build in your mind
the song that's stuck in your head
the moments you're in the shower
the iloveyous
the ikindaguessilikeyous
the icareforyous
the seeyoulaters
the words you say
the smiles you smile
the laughs you laugh
the loves you love
the hates you hate

you are
an entire universe:
you're stars
and planets
and galaxies
and asteroids
and comets

you are a cosmos
trapped in
a shell.

you are
a gazillion worlds
locked in
a human cage.

never think
of yourself
as of
anything
less.