They built her cage when she was small
Though no one called it one at all
No iron bars, no lock, no key
Just whispered rules of who to be
Be sweet. Be still. Don’t speak too loud
Don’t be the one who leaves the crowd
Be what they need. Do what is right
Fold up your wings. Take up less light
And so she learned to dim her flame
To answer to a borrowed name
To tuck her wildest dreams away
And live the life they said she may
She grew, but still she feared those bars
And watched through them at distant stars
She dreamed of fields, of open sky
She was a bird afraid to fly
Until one day, now fully grown
She touched a bar she’d always known
Her fingers passed straight through the air
She turned - and found no prison there
Because the bars she’d sat behind
Were only iron in her mind
Expectations dressed as truth
They’d handed to her in her youth
And suddenly she understood:
She’d stayed because they said she should
The cage she’d lived in all those years
Was built of other people’s fears
So she stood tall and stepped outside
Unfurled the wings she used to hide
Took a breath and said goodbye
Found the fields and open sky
Found the distant stars she’d seen
Once upon a distant dream
Shed the bars she thought she knew
Spread her wings…
And off she flew
*****
Note from Becky:
I wrote this brand new poem as an homage to Breathe last month (because it was 5 years since I first shared it) It's a sort-of update; where 'she' finds solace and freedom and space to breathe, by realising the same things about expectations and whispered rules as she does in the original poem.
Becky Hemsley 2026
Artwork by Jorm Sangsorn
Source: Becky Hemsley Poetry on Facebook
