Canaries

Canaries live and die in cages
They live to please their masters
With vague memories of life outside
Scared by thoughts of leaving
the life they’ve come to live
Daily rations of seeds and water
Still the adventure of being alive
calls them in ways they don’t understand
What’s in their blood
will pulsate and come to be
If they could only remember that it’s real
There was life before the numbness
Life that longs to live