Master and Captain

I am master of my fate,

I am captain of my soul,

But nobody saunters out of the hell on earth’s gate,

Without being a little less whole,

I try to live as though I can control what’s on the other side,

But instead I ride a train into a somewhere,

A nameless land that to I have been lied,

Told it will answer all of my desires and my prayers,

Riddled into thinking it will be predictable and fair,

But how could I pilot a life where I don’t hold the steering wheel?

Or even told when we’ll arrive there,

Let alone, knowing if controlling my fate is even real,

You told me I was the master of my fate and the captain of my soul,

But we’re all told how to speak, what to do, and what to wear,

And when the knowledge of this all is what you stole,

How could I trust that these tracks are even carrying me to somewhere?

For when thinking of the past, I never once willfully stepped into this box of lies,

This train and my life,

And I’ve never once stepped off, through this window seen every sunrise,

And despite the aches and the wonders, been told my life is without strife,

So now I see, you are the master of my fate, the captain of my soul,

And we are all deceived to, all the same birds of a feather,

With their wings clipped back yet told we are complete and full,

As we ride this inexorable train together.

-anna sluder