Fenced in.
Constructions of denied permissions
Reasons why not

Not insurmountable
But strong enough
High enough
To make me think twice
Or more

About whether I will brave them
Whether I want to
Whether I need to

Anyone can see my space is small
Confined constricting
But comfortable too
And mine

And isn’t that what my fence defines?
my space,
my domain,
my shelter,
What isn’t theirs,
What is mine.

I reign
Supreme ruler of my micro-kingdom
Domination and possession in miniature.

And it speaks to me
In its own voice
It preaches its propaganda

Telling me that the world is inside its fences
That there is nowhere else to go
Nowhere worth going
The grass is greener on this side

My heart in betrayal
Joins in this hostile takeover
And gives it passions
To only what it sees lying at my feet

Its vision dims
And it shrinks itself
To match its tiny world
Inside the fence
Where I live

As time trickles by
My world shrinks more
In step with my heart
And everything slows down
And everything fades

And darkness descends
Filling my heart and my lungs
With lethargic anesthesia
Preparing me for the end
In my coffin-sized world

I’m fading
Ending
But it’s alright
I don’t even care

But he did
He must’ve seen me shrinking

And somehow he squeezed
Into my tiny world
And whispered

Louder than my fence was shouting
And more consistent than the insipid beating of my failing heart.

Through the haze
Of smothering confusion
I heard him

What he said lifted me
Higher than my fence
My prison had never allowed speed like this
Ascending to heights of his making

As I gazed on the landscape below
It just wouldn’t stop growing
This was his world
Not shrinking
Expanding

He whispered again,
This is my world

And then he gave it to me
This is your stomping ground
He said

As my feet touched the ground
Outside of my fenced in prison
I realized I could never fit inside it again

The world was more my size
And it was mine

I began to stomp