Traffic Lights

Traffic lights said that cars could start shifting closer Tidy yellow lanes where no one crosses the paint of double lines

But seatbelts lied to me And I rocked again in my darkened bed and cried

Golden smiles or millions of barking voices

Open seats balanced upon hope and denial I could match your bold chorus I finally resisted Your quiet steps towards the pretty child

Bike brakes slammed in the center of the highway

Never-ending lists of maroon notebooks or wooden houses Lines of faces ready to catch and care for you Old country roads or bright teachers with spouses

Deceived and then dragged to our feet by frost Gloves compact on an orb of delicious snow How could I breathe as they invaded my corner Make yourself unseen is how it goes

I can already hear their whining The blur of their fun times and their catchy reins Blinding us like the popular sun

Lines of pink smite As I realized the cage

At last, they hit this frame in the snowflakes Running jaggedly towards me and colliding on our roundabout track

The violence of old children for full viewing

Just children

The kicks and blows of blood grinning down my back

Now we’re emptily tracing timeless scars Now we’re rabbits and cowards in our family’s eyes Until wars were absolved by those qualified judges Each playing the hero Boasting of chasing away shadows They fly on effortlessly-built wings of pride

Past wishes of smiling hand in hand turn to dust

Illuminated on our faces as the curtains closed tight Shaking in the pitch black as I fall asleep haunted by normality In this world where cars don’t obey traffic lights

Hands, hands, hands

I can only remain the alchemist for so long Noa Upfeld