Year of the Rat

Reaching up to touch the sky
The sun, the centre of my mind
Hopes are high and time is wide
Dream of life on the other side
Take my chance to grab an inch
When something snares me I don’t flinch
When it pulls I just pull back
I feel my liberty losing slack
Hunch my back and bear my teeth
I’ll kill you to get the things I need
The push for more provokes the greed
I struggle for the space to breathe
Fight against this mass of scum
Trapped inside their vinculum
Hopes of plenty turned to none
All the bastards become one
This ball of fear that grows together
The want for freedom becomes the tether
A thousand rats and appetites pull
A thousand ways to bind it tighter
Feel the huddle intertwine
See our lives start to unwind
Feel the pressure closing in
See the world start to spin
Tails connect and pull apart
Friends whose tails strangle the hearts
Of friends whose tails are wrapped around
The necks of friends together bound
Honour fades from constant pain
Pull away to get stuck again
Only a broken mind can understand
That life’s a trap when you’re a rat