See me peering through the letters

That are swarming down this page.

See me struggle in the fetters

Of my Muse’s authored cage:

‘O’s are manacles, and ‘T’

The cross-bar braced by double-‘V’;

‘C’s are chains linked to a ‘Q’

Which is the keyless lock I drew;

‘L’s are bars – ‘D’ one great floor;

‘X’ joins the walls without a door;

Periods are scattered dust;

Commas, colons – flakes of rust;

Exclamation marks are blades

Upon which my ink is made;

‘F’s the quill wherewith I write

These prison walls of endless height.

Scrawling each lumpy-lettered line,

Chanting the verses as I climb,

Knowing that each new word I stack

Is just another word I lack.

For no matter where I would flee,

I take this cage of words with me.