By Simarpreet Kaur
In this big cage, there was nothing but darkness
Only a little light cracked from the ceiling.
Hope.
Every day I would sit in shackles,
Trying to pull and break free.
I scratched, I screamed, I cried.
Hell, I thought I could never escape
There was no one
No one to help me, hear me
Then there she was.
She stood there with her curious eyes
Too tall for a woman,
Looking at me and mostly wondering how careful she should be with me
So beautiful, the way I could never be
She was a warm and sweet soul, too creative like me
Similar in ways I could never imagine
She talked to me every day, being the best part of my day
She made me smile when no one could
She made me laugh when no one could
She made me feel real
She made me feel alive
Alive from a person who was rotting like a corpse for a long time
Sometimes, I couldn’t take it anymore
When I couldn’t and wouldn’t,
I would fall worse than I did before.
she would hold me tightly and say,
‘Get up,Darling.You are strong, you can do it, stay for me, not for yourself, you can’t go, you can’t do this to me’,
And so, I did
I stayed for her
She broke my shackles and made me free
Alive
Alive like a caged bird with her newfound freedom.
She flew with me
Giving me the confidence to be someone I wanted to be
And I became me
I met her when I was broken like a mirror from this cruel world
Its pieces, never to be put together
But she put them together with me
Making me new,
Making me beautiful,
Making me alive.