Learned

Smaller than a breadbox
But bigger than a thimble.
My detention started without end
In the cellar of God’s temple.
 
Blinded by the dark pitch
Held tightly to the corner.
Sharing the darkness with the rats
I learned to be a mourner.
 
Choice of binds or choice of freedom
A promise to remove the tether
But only if I could finally learn
To yield to whips of leather.
 
“Now child, save up your strength,
With this water and crust of bread.
Your next lesson will come very soon
And your sins will finally be shed.”
 
“You will sit when I say sit.
You will kneel when I say kneel.
Don’t make a sound or cry out.
I’ll give you a reason to feel.”
 
“Children are to be seen
And never, ever be heard.”
I learned this very early on.
I learned to be a bird.
 
Now when the demons come down,
They come to teach me more
But the bird has flown so far away
And she’s left behind their lore.