Today I got lost in my head.

And while I was lost, I realized that not only was I lost

but I was trapped too.

In every direction all that I saw

were metal bars and infinite paths,

each more winding than the next.

Every step I took, just took me
 
one step backward from where I wanted to be.

And every turn I made had me dizzy

and soon disoriented.

With every move I made I heard a rushing

in my ears grows louder.

That rushing was the pound of feet,

the scrape of claws on stone,

the shrieks of wild beasts held dormant too long.

As I tried to run from these creatures--

those with many heads,

and staring eyes,

and jaws that glint with rows of teeth--

I found that my legs had been cut.

And the faster I tried to go,

the closer the beasts came,

until I was caught in a writhing pile

of flesh and bone.

I was so caught up in the darkness,

that a moonless night would have been brighter.

But soon, the beasts went away, the cage was gone,

but I was falling.

Falling and falling down a quiet pit.

Where the rush of wind

and the rustle of the thoughts cramming my head

soon drove me mad.

I tried to scream but all that I summoned was a silent puff of air.

And I fell faster.

I swirled about in a gruesome dance as the bottom drew nearer.

And when I landed with a bone-jarring,

teeth cracking,

head whirling,

thud,

I found myself trapped with my fears.

Stuck in an ever going spar.

And they were vicious.

They plucked at my heartstrings,

and dove at my sides.

Each blow stung a bit more than the last.

I felt myself losing ground slowly,

but as a poison infiltrates the soul,

I lost more and more with every second.

And when I was pinned in a corner,

tears streaming down my face but unwilling to back down,

I blinked.

And remembered that I was only lost in my head.

That to escape I need not escape the cage but simply

grow too big to fit into it any longer.

That to fight my fears I need only dream up a sword.

That with every lock, there is a key,

with every weakness, there is a strength.

That I need only close the door,

and walk away.

Open the blind on the cool Autumn day,

and let the sunlight come in.

So, with my fears and foes shrinking,

I flew up into that sunlight, slowly.

And crushed my worries with each flap of my

wings.


*For anyone who gets caught up in their thoughts, worries, or anxiety, please remember that there is always a way back out again.