Flight

The load of life is heavy on my soul;
The push and press of every constant choice--
The dull demand of every social role--
The screech and scream of each competing voice
         Dim and deaden any sense of worth,
         Pulverize and pound me to the earth.

Could I but cut the ties that bind me down
To float and leave both weight and woes behind!
To drift in air like dandelion down,
To traipse o’er trees and mountains with the wind,
         To send my spirit mounting up and high,
         To swoop and soar like birds in azure sky.

But I am bound to earth and rock and soil,
Joined to job and debt and daily grind.
Encased in expectations, bound by toil,
My every thought and act so tightly twined
         By social sanctions that I am contrite
         That I should even dare to dream of flight.

Notes ▼

This is a Venus and Adonis Stanza  
A fun extra challenge in this poem was the alliteration in each line.