And off she flew

 

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