Sitting in a room,

Cold and barren,

Completely exposed and paralyzed.

Exploding with fire inside,

A tornado of wind

Spiraling from the wings of the phoenix trapped within my soul.

For I am stuck in a prison

With no escape.

The only source of light- the windows to my soul.

Eyes roaming freely,

To see.

I hear them in the distance

All coming for me

With sinister intentions behind their gleaming smiles.

They gather around,

With backs turn,

Talking in secret amongst themselves

Towering above me,

As I sit,

Immobilized.

For I am being held against my will

Which longs to be free, but like a caged bird,

It has lost it’s fight, you see.

One by one, they turn to face me

With Cheshire grins of duplicity.

Passing on empty pleasantries to my face,

As their claws dig into my skin

One by one, they tear and peal the flesh from my bone.

Smiling as they say,

“Oh you’re so pretty”

“Oh you’re so great”

“Oh you’re so smart”

“I don’t see your disability”

“You’re so strong, look at you!”

With each lie that falls out of their mouth

Their tone becomes deeply disturbing with a menacing growl,

Accompanying their poisonous words.

I sit naked, feeling everything, but helpless,

but wait, don’t say that word

That’s a bad word.

“You’re never helpless.”

“You’re never powerless!” they say as they start to chop you into smaller pieces.

What was once “whole” is now dismembered, scattered all across the room.

With a searing light to burn through you,

To the core.

Your resolve screams in pain, but no one hears, for it screams into the void

They stomp upon you

Carelessly saying, “Sorry I didn’t see you”

Limbs of your disfigured body start to be thrown around like toys on a playground

Maniacal personalities

Dressed up as “good people”

Or shall I say “good christian people”?

But they’re all the same

For the perspective of the physically limited is looked in shame in all cultures.

The world birthed me with the purpose to crucify me.

The Inevitable lurks in the corner

Hauntingly watching my destruction

Knowing this was always meant to be.

My life was full of daggers,

Constantly swiping me,

but I let Hope make me to blind to see

The good in me relinquishes a final “whoah”

As I stare into the blank sphere of nothingness,

Above me.

I was never meant to live

Only barely survive.

Wandering an earth that never wanted me

That never knew what to do with me.

The world said, “We shall break her down until she is nothing but sullen ash!”

Her soul shouts to Life and stares him in the face.

“You win, you fucking win!

You are the monster, not me!

You always were!”

Her voice pierces through the air like a screeching siren

Her eyes turn bright red and the prison that once held her fire, finally breaks free,

Destroying what was left of the wretched encampment she was forced into.

Her eternal phoenix flies in circles

Higher and higher

It allows the tips of its wings and claws to touch every part of her earth

For it is the vengeance of the broken girl, it once knew

Who was never meant to be

Who was never understood

And left in the darkness to be forgotten.

And like a dragon, it releases her fury and watches it all burn.

Unapologetically

For her pain runs through the stem of it’s fiery feathers like blood.

Everyone looked at her weakness, but missed her power.

In all honesty, she lost sight of it too.

She is no more, but the fire from her protector

Released to her tormentors

Creates a never-ending firestorm for them to feel beyond their dying days.

©PaintedSound2025