The City

The city is crushing, crowded.
There is no place even to walk.
Of all but people denuded,
It is bare. But I can't walk out.

The city is too suffocating.
I don't have enough air to breathe.
The mix on which I'm existing
Every day eats up my insides.

The city is too shorn of space.
Every inch of ground and air is gone.
Somewhere, suspended, is my cage;
The small room that I call my home.

The city is just too noisy.
It assaults all my senses.
I have trained myself to block it,
Shut off to city's influences.

The city is too demanding.
It's taken away all I own;
No dignity left, to call my own.
Though free, I can't even cry out.

I have the choice to leave and go,
But stuck in the web I struggle.
Each strand pulls me, it won't let go.
This prison exerts a strange hold.

Those who bought into the illusion
And think this is life; they are lucky.
At least happy in their prisons,
They don't struggle daily, like me.