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The Only Real Path by Lendren

Runner-Up for April 2023

A man may suffer greatly when encased by bounds and rules,
be held in ropes and cages and made feeble foil of fools;
Yet a man can free his body with his strength and wits and tools,
but the tightest of all shackles, those we place on our own souls.

A woman stands and shouts at sun and moon and sky and sea,
proclaiming to the world what she declares herself to be,
and laughs when half the world closes their eyes and will not see,
avowing "the only one I really must convince of this is me."

A person seals their happiness away with key and lock
and prison made of expectations of the thronging flock
when trying to conform to how others set their mark,
but finding your true self is the only real path you walk.