Year of the Rat

Reaching up to touch the sky,
The sun, the centre of my mind.
Hopes are high and time is wide,
Dream of life on the other side.

Take my chance to grab an inch,
When something snares me I don't flinch.
When it pulls I just pull back,
I feel my liberty losing slack.

Hunch my back and bear my teeth,
I'll kill you to get the things I need.
The push for more provokes the greed,
I struggle for the space to breathe.

Fight against this mass of scum,
Trapped inside their vinculum.
Hopes of plenty turned to none,
All the bastards become one.

This ball of fear that grows together,
The want for freedom becomes the tether.
A thousand rats and appetites pull,
A thousand ways to bind it tighter.

Feel the huddle intertwine,
See our lives start to unwind.
Feel the pressure closing in,
See the world start to spin.

Tails connect and pull apart
Friends whose tails strangle the hearts
Of friends whose tails are wrapped around
The necks of friends together bound.

Honour fades from constant pain,
Pull away to get stuck again.

Only a broken mind can understand
That life's a trap when you're a rat.