Monday Mantra (National Poetry Month Special Edition): The Fortress

A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation".

Every Monday I will post a new thought, idea, or focus for the week. When you need a breather from life, when you need a little inspiration, or when you're about to jump over the conference table and strangle your co-worker, remember the mantra.

Monday Mantra: Free yourself from the fortress of your mind

Society6
Taylor Rae

The Fortress

I live in a fortress, strong and powerful. Nothing and no one can get through its walls.

I have been here a long time.

I sit high up in a room with one window.

From here I can see for miles.

Below my window is a moat filled with venomous water snakes that circle the waters, day in and day out.

Surrounding the moat is a wall, thicker and taller than any wall created. A wall not meant to be overcome.

Beyond the wall is a field, long and wide, filled with invisible yet deadly mines.

Past the field is a fence, electrifying for those who dare touch it.

Outside of my fence is the world.

I see blurred images of people, love, hopes and dreams, fear and failure, waiting for me to let them in.

From my window I can see all of this, yet I do not want to leave or to allow them entry.

From my window I am safe from everyone and everything.

No one can reach me.

I live in a fortress, dark and cold. Nothing and no one can get in.

I have been here a long time.

I sit up high in a room with a window that has a view.

From my window I can see for miles.

I see a moat, murky and black. The snakes have drowned in its pity.

I see a wall, old and crumbling. The green of the vines breaching its cracks stands out against its dark palette.

I see a field overgrown with daisies.  The mines are old and rusted, weary from waiting to be set off.

I see a fence bending over, tired of being on guard. Empty of energy for shocking all who were brave enough to touch it.

Beyond my barriers I see the sun rise and fall.  I see colors. I see life.

I see chance, opportunity, dreams.

I see people.

They are waiting for me.

Even after the shock, the pain, and my determination to keep them out, they wait still.

From my window I see all of this and my heart aches.

No one can reach me.

I lived in a fortress where I grew lonely and bored.

Nothing and no one could ever get in,

 so I had to walk out.

I lowered my drawbridge to cross over my now empty moat.

I climbed over the broken stones of my wall that had crumbled.

I walked through my field picking daisies, burying mines, covering

them with mounds and mounds of flowers.

I walked to my fence that was no longer whole, no longer intact.

I saw the people outside waiting for me.

I felt the sun on my skin, the wind in my hair.

I took a breath and I climbed over, walking to them and to everything I had kept out.

 I once lived in a fortress, big and tall.

I sat in a room with a window where I looked out at the beauty of the world, the adventures of life.

I had walls to protect me from this beautiful world because I was afraid.

I let my passion be overcome by fear and I let fear take me.

I longed for golden rays of sunshine on my skin, the essence of flowers in the air, the feeling of being alive.

I began to fade away for lack of living and I became a shadow in my fortress until one day, one day, when I finally realized…

I had built myself a prison.