Baggage

by Natalia Dzwigala

You carry your baggage
pretending it’s not heavy

Pretending
with a brave
and sleazy face
that it does not
bother you

And maybe it doesn’t
maybe you like it there
maybe it protects you
from your own self

And maybe
if it wasn’t there
you would crumble
into dust

So you play on
clinging to your baggage
becoming its puppet
twisted in the strings
dancing
a fools dance
and struggling
to keep it together

But you are unaware
unaware that you are tired
unaware that you are miserable

You put on your mask
like you brush your teeth
in the morning
and you face the world
playing games with the game
twisting minds
for acing yearning souls
causing pain
and watching them chase wind

You stir the monsters
you tease them
it gives you pleasure
and a false sense of power

But you are the one
chasing your own tail
ever estranged
with your own self
clenching
the remote control

Your mistaken ego
slowly unravels
soon to expose
the true essence of you
and where your scars
came from

Scars
that you have
made invisible
but visible to me

Will you ever
cut loose from those strings
and dance your own dance
never perfect
but human?

Will you ever shine
and discover the secrets
the ocean tells
and the warmth
the sun expels?

Will you ever taste happiness
as it fills your lungs
with every breathe you take?

Will you ever let go
run free
and not look back?

I wonder.