Tightrope

Feet treading mute on thin will

I fell, and hit the net below –

To dance that dance, my ledger nill

For my pain – no gain to show.

They told me the ropes constrained me

They said it was Lucifer who fell

Called blind so as not see –

Fear as running blood within their shell.

Weighty their yoke upon my head

To tread that tightrope of time

Equal parts both joy and dead –

A marionette of the strings of mime.

Let your feet still limp on single strands

I will traverse the sky on a net of stars

My feet will tread through promised lands

My freedom bound in a rope burn’s scars.

Lucifer fell because he was proud

Too proud to tread the firmament below

And you – too cowed, you follow the crowd

Too proud – their threads your status quo.

I fell so that the noose slipped away

Tightropes – they turn us to prey

But heaven forbid I speak words true –
Lucifer is holding the strings that bind you.

SK Downes