kite strings

Some days  
I feel like a runaway kite  
caught in the branches of a tree  
the wind wants to take me  
but this world wants to tether me  
 
I've been smashing into trees  
ever since I was small enough  
to learn how to climb  
how to face the fear  
and jump  
how to brace  
for the inevitable fall  
 
I still carry the splinters  
between my thighs  
across my arms  
down my ribs  
I like way the memories hurt  
because they remind me  
I've always been chasing freedom  
even if I end up crashing
into people, places and things  
that wrap my kite strings  
in their enclosed fists  
and drag me back down  
to this reality  
 
Some days  
I'm made of paper  
and sticks and tape  
and I know I could fly  
if only I was assembled right  
there's too many tears  
in the skin of me  
and my bones only remember  
how it feels to fall  
not how it feels to fly  
because I never really did  
I only crashed into something new