You always took me places I didn’t want to go,

yet still I followed

though I held in my hand the key to my shackles.  

You kept me in an unlocked cage,

yet I refused to walk out into freedom,

though I couldn’t be contained.  

You kept my mind shrouded in darkness,

yet there was light all around me

and I had but only to open my eyes to see it. 

You convinced me with deceptive words

though my ears had heard the truth,

and I had but only needed to choose to believe it. 

 

What a powerful weakling you are,

so small, yet so magnified. 

What an imaginary giant you have proved to be!

What a loud and imposing coward!

With what fear did you keep me bound up in chains!

Oh, and how you imprinted such dread of you into my imagination 

that I was so terrified to break away!

Oh, how you destroyed me with your lies and your beatings!

 

But now what of us?

What have you become now that in surrender 

I have died to what held me?

Where is the power you once wielded over me

as I cowered in shame beneath your shadow

and beneath the weight of your heavy palm?

What now can you hold against me

since my death to what once was?

God damn you for your misery and your torments!

What you held over me when I was alive to you

is powerless now in death!

What now, you wretched slave master?

What now, you farce, you liar?

For I will now live on after death,

and you, condemned, will suffer eternal death. 

 

So then what of us?

I will walk out into the light of day

and leave you behind as a distant memory,

my scars now reminders of what I died to,

as you live and relive your torment. 

My heart breaks not for you,

nor will I shed a tear. 

I will relish in your demise and rejoice in your downfall.  

I will live my life as it’s meant to be -

unashamed and surrendered,

hopeful and alive.