POETRY:Invictus by Reggie Drake

I close my eyes.

Shut my mouth.

And lock my mind.

To keep them from breaking in.

I hear them.

I hear the sirens screeching and screaming their terrible song.

Songs pitched in lovely tunes hide deadly decibels that mesmerize and captivate.

They lure me in.

I fall for their trap.

Too weak-minded to break the bind they hold on me and I lose control...

I am lost.

With the mind gone my body ceases to function, like a car without an engine, I am nothing.

I am at their mercy; our eternal struggle has left me powerless.

Broken.

But that was before.

Before I found the light concealed within the darkness and uncovered my inner essence.

Before I realized that I am my own architect and I shape and configurate my own fate.

I am a slave to none.

How dare they attempt to break my back with the iron rod of captivity, those mind-seducing words shatter and fall at the feet of my unwavering will.

I have too long been afraid, afraid of myself for I never knew who I was.

I have been clay in their hands, constantly molded, fixed, and transformed to fit their desired image.

I have lived a lie, but now I am free.

No longer a captive, a slave, a servant.

My very soul now steers the ship.

Stranded at sea I will never be, as i silently utter these sacred words from memory: Liberum ad Extremus... Free at Last