Trapped

by Dale Neibaur, 1974

Trapped.

Enclosed by four walls

    years of training

    and a legacy of learning

        secondhand;

Held against my reason and desire

    within the strait walls of a philosophy

    known as school.

All my being yearns for freedom.

The sun demands I come and be drawn upwards;

    the mountains and meadows

    cry aloud for feet to fly across them.

My restless mind paces endlessly,

    awaiting its chance to explore the vastness

    of life, but for now and always

    my body is

Trapped.