The Girl in the Cage

There’s a little girl inside me With paint still on her hands She used to talk in colors I barely understand She cried without a warning She laughed too loud, too free She believed in every promise That nobody could keep I told her, “Stay quiet You don’t survive that way.” I locked her in a corner And I threw the key away There’s a girl in a cage Deep beneath my ribs She still calls my name Through the life I live But there’s no space for softness There’s no room for tears I built these walls to protect us Now she’s disappeared There’s a girl in a cage And I put her there She used to trust the sunlight She used to trust the rain Now every open window Feels like open pain She wants to run barefoot Across the broken glass But I learned how to survive By never looking back She knocks when I’m alone She whispers, “Let me out.” But hope is just a weakness I learned to live without There’s a girl in a cage Deep inside my chest She still believes in kindness I buried with the rest But the world is not a playground It’s a battlefield instead So I chose to keep her breathing Locked inside my head There’s a girl in a cage And she remembers who I was Maybe I became the monster Just to keep her safe Maybe I grew armor So she wouldn’t break But every time I silence her Something inside me dies You can’t kill your own reflection Without closing both your eyes There’s a girl in a cage And she’s still alive She’s the part of me That never learned to hide Maybe there is space for softness Maybe there is room for grace Maybe I don’t have to lose her Just to keep my place There’s a girl in a cage And maybe I’ll set her free