Ode to “Allegory of the Cave”

How I long to burst free of these mental confines and escape this labyrinth of my own design.

Photo by Jeff Nissen from Pexels

The inside of my mind is a curved space,
smooth as rocks eroded by eons of floods,
that the images of thought are projected upon
the patterns and arrays curving along
the convex walls of the cave.
How I long to burst free
of these mental confines
and escape this labyrinth
of my own design.
The closest I can come is splattering
the paint of my thoughts
on this empty page,
weaving wisdom of the words
that fill me up to the brim.
The overflow escapes from my fingertips
scripting magic in the form of
ink stroke epiphany.
Perhaps I shall not escape, fully,
from the maze of my mind —
I will only throw my shadows
on the walls of the cave
for those chained to interpret.