A Cage To Hold My Dreams
Damien
Damien took a stroll down by the spinney
embracing solitude among the tangled weeds.
School is worse than being shot, he thought.
His appearance startled some fieldmice
into petulant flurries of alarm.
I would poison all teachers, he growled,
lashing out at an innocent butterfly.
Damien's mind was made up.
No more would he tolerate the teachers
and the bullies and being told he was lazy
and inconsiderate and a waste of space.
He would show them. He would hide
in a ship going to Canada.
He would become a computer Mountie
and round up villains by helicopter.
Canada would be perfect, he thought,
but he would write home
the minute he got to Nova Scotia.
He wouldn't want his mother to worry.
Eels and minnows and tadpoles
frolicked in the clear woodland water
unaware of the deep feelings of injustice
on fire behind Damien's blue eyes.
