The Dark Cage Poem by Gary Scott Gebert

Inside the walls, and down the stairs
I crept to hide from you.
Believing no one could enter, or escape
no one could touch what I needed to keep close.

Only to save myself, I would conclude
giving no thought to any other.
Hearing the drip of the stagnant water
feeling the cold, musty air...Dead air.

This place where no one ever knew existed
where the walls held back the feelings.
Outside the walls, I give a false impression
one they feel comfortable with.

But inside the cage, despair and hurt
inside looms a dark myth that only I believe.
And as you try to penetrate the wall
it only becomes higher, thicker, deeper.

I scream a silent oath to myself
not to break the barrier that protects me from...you.
Deeper, I go in mute remembrance
thinking of how things use to be and discarding it immediately.