Despair wants to keep me in a cage,
gilded with moonstones,
with bars of sharp teeth.
I shudder inside and chew on the bones, refusing the meat.
The shadow play has begun again
And I must become prey.
Chased through meadows,
chased through alleys,
chased until my lungs expire.
Yet sadness finds it cannot feast,
my milkweed body it cannot eat.
Though lilacs tremble on my lips,
my tears are poison, my body is a furnace of hell-flames.

Shona Christie is a 21-year-old college student majoring in philosophy. She spends her time dancing in the woods to classic rock as well as reading and writing on rooftops. More of Shona’s poetry can be found on her Tumblr: intothe-labyrinth.tumblr.com.