**Honesty**

Meaningless

Society speaks with one voice,

Yet my heart whispers another.

Why deny me freedom?

Why can’t I simply be?

In the quiet of my mind,

A knee jerks in defiance.

A tiny, spirited fist,

Raised against oppression.

A raging spirit struggles,

Yearning to be true.

Even as a cloud,

An amorphous piece of art.

Forged by eons of struggle,

Genetics evolved.

Hopelessness ebbs and flows,

Expectations crush down.

Blood drips from the bats,

Eyes cold and judgmental

.

How can I resist?

Every corner filled with teeth.

My identity minimized,

A reality dictated by the masses.

I wear the costumes,

Itch, scratch, and hide.

Twisting, contorting,

To a shape that pleases you.

I make you feel secure,

In your elaborate fiction.

With lies.