Awaken Poem by Sal Simfukwe

I Woke Up

I didn't even know I was slumbering
in a world that seemed too good to be true,
stuck between limbo and consciousness,
uncertain about my own state of reality.

Imagine playing as a checkers pawn on a chessboard.
You fit perfectly, yet every move you make proves futile,
because it's not your game.

You were a dream that I so stupidly came to think was real,
just a pawn in your twisted game.
Your name was carved on the bark of the tree of my thoughts.

I yearned for your presence like a plant in a dark room,
stretching its leaves to touch a ray of light
from a shadowed window.

What can I say...

You filled my cup up to the brim.
It felt like I had found the golden ticket
to the Willy Wonka chocolate factory.
How foolish was I to think that I had found
that one four-leaf clover...

I was a king seated comfortably in a palace
built from lies,
ruling a kingdom whose foundation was
deception.

What hurt more is that you played me like a pawn.
What hurt is that I knew you held me in a chokehold,
but still stayed, hoping you would see me
more as a person than your little project.
I admit it:
I was addicted to your lies.

So glad that I woke up.