Life Is Slavery

Life is slavery.
The contracts we sign, the names given to us,
The childhood designations
Are our certificates of ownership.

Life is slavery.
We are slaves to the need.
Our masters are the men and the women
We need to sustain us.

I love you so I am a slave.
I need you to love me
So I am a slave.
We are all in the workhouse of the world.

Sometimes music is pumped into my quarters
To soothe me. Sometimes a kind word
Is spoken by another wearing the same ragged clothes.
It's enough because it has to be enough.

Life is slavery.
We are chained to this flesh, these bones,
Locked in the cages of our minds --
Our only escape to be the tender unknown of the grave.