“Breakout Rhyme”

 

c. 2024 Rod Ice

All rights reserved

(2-24)

 

 

Rhymes for a reason

Though the cause might seem hard to detect

Sitting alone with my memories

Of a planned existence bound to a paycheck

I did that jive for so long

That when the ride ended, it left me oddly out of sync

I wasn’t ready for that merry-go-round

To drop me rudely in the drink

 

Rhymes for a reason

A split from the duty bestowed at birth

I had to renegotiate my own existence

Had to convince myself there was a greater worth

It kept me trembling at night

I didn’t know how to move at my own pace

When standing before the mirror’s display

I had to guess which ink blot represented my face

 

Rhymes for a reason

This thought of choosing seemed strange at first

I never had that option among my peers

Never had that quizzical intellectual burst

My brain bolted halfway through the maze

It left me empty-headed in a corridor, confused

I had to relearn the art of introspection

A talent I had not often used

 

Rhymes for a reason

Stepping out on the first day after sunrise

I had to cover my face until the glare became tolerable

Crouching low, on the outside

This thaw of spring made me giddy

Leaping and laughing like a woodland gnome

But after running boldly across the pasture

I couldn’t find my way home

 

Rhymes for a reason

Now a scholar, studiously seeking new texts

Searching through scrolls of lessons to unlearn

Counting platitudes I now must forget

It isn’t easy once the mold has been broken

Like an eggshell, from the barnyard crate

An amoeba of protein growing quickly

To end up on my dinner plate

 

Rhymes for a reason

Kissed before going off to school

The journey was not far in distance

But great enough, for a zig-zagging fool

I was naïve in the breach

And not much wiser stepping out for the first time

I had to get my legs under me, strong and sure

Standing tall on the chalk line

 

Rhymes for a reason

Echoing in a place where voices rarely speak

The set paradigm is to hear truisms being offered

Not to argue over what we repeat

Once I gave myself the reckless liberty

To wonder aloud about our emperor’s new clothes

The crack of correction came down swiftly

Like a cry of a condor in its death throes

 

Rhymes for a reason

Now that jingle of keys in the schoolhouse lock has ended

Spending time at my desk, stashing gum under the seat

Is a trick I have cleverly amended

The newer version comes as I have found a hole in the fence

A gap through which I was able to squeeze

Since that day I have been a freeman vagabond

No longer on my knees

 

Rhymes for a reason

A jester jumping joyfully through hoops no more

Done with praying for merciful spite

To pin me with a dart, laid out on the killing floor

I won’t claim that this quest has been easy

Escaping Egypt with a belly unfed

But the glory of knowing I made it out, by chance

Keeps me safe in my bed