The moment the first heavy string fell on my head

Was the first time I had thought to look up.

The sky I had believed filled with shining stars

Was a twisting landscape of strings and beams.

The moment you saw my face upturned

Was when you yanked on all of my strings.

The choices I thought I had made for myself

Was merely you directing my every step.

The moment I tried to run away from you

Was when you tied me up in knots and left me.

The beautiful world I had loved and lived in

Was crumbling in brightly colored tiles around me.

The moment I cried out for the others to see

Was one where you decided to silence me.

The paralyzing pain I felt as you broke me apart

Was beyond the description of the agonized tongue.

The moment I was broken into so many pieces

Was the one where I finally lost all hope.

The truth I had clutched to my chest so closely

Was naught but shattered stones beneath my feet.

The moment I finally learned how to cry

Was one done silently and bitterly.

The warm flood of tears I had never felt

Was now the only thing that you had left me.

The moment I found myself in the consuming dark

Was as unexpected as a snowstorm in summer.

The first real choice I made for myself

Was to stand with wobbly broken legs.

The moment I looked into your dark eyes again

Was when I realized I saw fear reflected there.

The one you had thought was beyond repair

Was somehow rising stronger than before.

When I finally cast my foolish fears aside,

You realized you should turn and run.

The heavy web of strings dropping from your hands

Was the sign that you had disappeared into the dark.

I tore the bindings from my fellow puppets

And they realized they, too, could be free.

The truth I found in my bitter brokenness

Was that I had held myself captive, never you.