Defying

if I close them tight enough

the lids become a movie screen

my mind a film reel

I watch as I dream

of suburbia sunsets

and endless euphoria

of wrinkles on my grandmother’s face

and weight of my childhood expectations

of candle flickers younger than noon

and beads falling from best friend’s eyes

of subtle scars

and crashing clouds

I become submerged in absolute pain

but the ends of my lips are ear to ear

I become baptized in uncertainty

but there is assurance to my directions

I become drowned in my past

but my eyes only see ahead

because pain, uncertainty, and the past

are the only things I know for sure

when I open my eyes, my feet are off the ground

even if only temporarily

as the curtains lift, I think:

how freeing it is

to be liberated of cosmic shackles