Sally Richards

Inside the Gilded Cage

(from Stained Glass, just out with Survivors' Press)

The bars came down –

impenetrable isolation.

Gilded cage rusting.

Stifled song-less bird: eyes dart and blink

at the outside world: unfamiliar, alien land –

no flying allowed.

She plucks the flightless feathers

which once carried her soul.

Pared down to scragg:

downy remnants on the pink

behind the roughened gilt –

exposed for all to see.

Nowhere to run, no place to hide

Transient flashes of blue and gold

draw her towards the metal walls.

Curl up, hide away

she hears the words and, with lifeless wings,

enfolds herself with invisibility.

Her silent mantra runs on perpetual loop:

one day the bars will open –

one day I will be free

Sally Richards's booklet Stained Glass has just been published by Survivors' Press (ISBN 978-1-874595-17-8), at £4+£1 p&p.