Balloons and paper tigers imprison me
They chain me with my
Fears and failures and tenuous future
To a life of anxiety and paralysis

The growling paper tiger claws at the
Balloon wall I’ve built around me
The awful noise of the snarling tiger
The popping balloons
My own inner screams
Startle my senses
Jar me into action
To replace the popped balloons
I believe will protect me
Yet also will entrap me

I don’t know why I spend my time
Replacing these balloons
Balloons that the tigers can pop
That I can pop
That everyone knows are just air

If not for the loud bang
That sends me shrinking into myself
I would pop them, pop them all
Venture out beyond the wall and
Burn the paper tiger on a pyre
Of liberation and desire