Cuckoo

Fear is a cuckoo bird

and my heart its stolen nest

planted there to make sure

I'll never get any rest

Violent and hungry

it stirs in its cage

rattling my bones

with anger misplaced

Fear fears without reason

Fear fears for the sake of being afraid

Fear is an adopted child

with a mother estranged

I raise it as my own

unable to recognize that it's an imposter

It's learned to imitate me

and I've learned to foster

the anxiety it brings,

the imaginary threats

I tend to its wounded wing

and it fills up my head

with nonsense and worry

always telling me I have to hurry

or I'll be left behind and die alone

Hurry to what and to whom?

It never knows

but it's always watching,

always anxious,

always full of itself.

Fear is growing too big for my chest

and I want to push it out

the same way it's pushed out everything

except hopelessness and self-doubt

Rather than fattening it up

with jealousy and misery

I should let this little cuckoo starve

until finally,

finally,

my heart is free.