Severed

All the butterfly hearts she had ever known
only danced at the end of somebody’s string,
they could flutter and sway like being free,
but to someone they were just a puppet
simply obeying the lines that they controlled.

Then life began when she said no
to merely being able to fly by another’s command
never truly having any real liberty
beyond the way somebody moved the wires.

Oh hard it was to take the scissors
and sever the connection with that power
for it meant you had to trust to the wind,
and live by choices rather than fear.

Wasn’t easy dancing on your own
where no one decided your steps,
yet there was such joy in the sense
every move you made was by your choice.

Sometimes still she dreams those memories
of being one more dangled creature
by the will of another person’s mastery,
each pain and misery mixed together in flashbacks
before she is able to return to the present
unto to be in a place without some hand
able to tug at her and dictate what she can do next.