The Girl Inside

Slipping quietly through the shadows
I make for my escape
My form so slowly creeping through the corridors
Such eagerness as I slip undetected through the gates

Oh, freedom... when have we spoken last?
It seems so long ago
I have missed you dearly, how time has passed!
I'm certain I've not much to show

The manacles upon my wrists chafe softly my tender skin
And yet I do not feel the pain, I am free again!
The binds which held me fast slowly fade to drift away
As the darkness of my forgotten night fades swiftly into the day

Oh, dear god... the sun... such precious, precious light!
I remember all too cleary every single dreary night...
Each passing as the last, moon rising, leaving my soul bare
Each creature of the night calling, my name a curse word there

I was such the concubine, much the hands of time have cured
In my life, I have done much that I should regret
And yet I do not, I only learn, and now.. my god.. what time has shown
In these young years, I've cried my tears, and now I move forward from my debt

In passing, I know sometimes it's hard to realize what's going on
My escape to freedom the melting point of heated arguments with those I despise
My freedom my only santified wish I tell to those who ask
Why do you move so silently when all of those around can see the endless pain within your eyes?

I'm so young in form, yet still, my heart belongs to the universe
A child, a woman.. it matters not at times
For there, inside, beyond the pain if you wish to see who I've become
Through it all, I know you'll find something so complicated through your eyes

Perception is the guarded validity I hold within my grasp
Throughout the days I lean upon my staff with weary bones
My thoughts a catastrophic whirlwind of empty dreams
And though I speak to you now, tomorrow I'll still be alone

'Tis not so bad, this life, it seems
Though at times I wish it were
At times I wish I could face myself
And know there's no shame to be seen in her..

That woman staring back isn't the girl I left behind so many years ago
Her eyes reflecting everything..
Everything I know.