Shadow Puppet People | Teen Ink

Shadow Puppet People

January 9, 2014
By Samanthalijun PLATINUM, Farmington, New Mexico
Samanthalijun PLATINUM, Farmington, New Mexico
25 articles 0 photos 0 comments

I am a shadow puppet person.
I’m projected upon a gray wall
the fire behind me is poison
why else would I seem so small?
The captors that hide behind fire
don’t know what they’re doing wrong
their display is one which all admire
and the shadow puppet people play along
And if I escape them, there’s sunshine
and forests and flowers and rain
the rivers and valley’s are so fine
and too free for them to contain
Behind me there’s springtime, and birds sing
and the sky as night passes to dawn
But I’m just a jester’s plaything;
In life’s games I’m only a pawn.
They tug on a chord and my hands sway
and I move in ways that aren’t my own
and I dance in the supervised ballet
performing meticulous shows
I am a shadow puppet person
but I’m tearing the strings from my wrists
because the world behind shines like a beacon
it cries a call that I can not resist
It’s true that I might have a master
but I am no showman’s slave
I want to see light, and color
I want to escape from this cave.
I am a shadow puppet person
and this dark I have come to despise
I will release myself, and see the sun
and I’ll finally open my eyes.


The author's comments:
I wrote this having just learned about Plato's allegory of the cave.

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