The world is a prison, and society is my jailer.

You can take away my car. You can have my money, you can take the roof over my head, my shoes, my shirt, my bed. You can burn my books, rip up my work, steal all my paper and pens. You can force me in this cage. You can scream and howl until I can hear nothing but your beastial moans. 

But you cannot have my heart. 

For that is not yours to take. 

You cannot steal my words; you cannot take away the love in my voice. The thoughts that swim in my mind and the love that dwells in my heart are tended to by the most cautious of a gardner, Hope. You may be a giant, but hope is a god, and I revel in his glory, and he basks in my worship. 

You slipped up. You are fallible. 

Through a crack, A ray of light  illuminated my cell, if only for a moment, and penetrated my heart, that which you tried to harden, turn to stone. Like a thirsty plant, that ray of light nourished me. It was life, truth, peace, and tranquility. It sowed the seeds now cultivated by hope.

Of course you were quick to extinguish it

you filled the crack with your acerbic cement.

You beat me until you were certain I was nothing but a husk. You left me bereft of all life, atleast you thought so. You were not successful. While you relaxed in the blissful ignorance provided by your Pyrrhic victory, I guarded a spark with my heart left tender from your beatings.

Where there is smoke, there is fire. I no longer guard a spark. Under your careless auspices, I tended to the flames, and now my cell is ablaze. Originally hidden in the shadows, it is an inferno that casts shadows. It will burn my prison to the ground. 

But fret not, it will do you no harm. 

You taught me well. I know what beatings and pain bring. I have looked into the deepest parts of my soul and seen the product of your desecration. I would not wish it upon my worst enemy. 

I forgive you. 

My life will not be example to all those who oppose you. I will not be a tool of your oppression. My life will be a swallow carrying an olive branch. I will give hope to those who you capture. Those who you rob of love, peace. To the dreamers who flew to close to the sun and crashed into your dark mire. 

I will reconquer what you stole from me. I will use the walls and barriers your erect about me to create bridges and towers. I will love my friends, my family, and myself. I will take each day as it is, a gift. I will remember my time in bondage with you, and I will seek to bring joy to all who encounter me. 

And one day, I will dream again.