Prisoner of Words (Unsaid)

I'm a prisoner of words unsaid
Just lonely feelings locked away in my head
I trap myself further every time I stay quiet
I should start to speak but I stop and stay silent
And now I've made my own hard bed
Inside a prison of words unsaid

I am a P.O.W.
Not a prisoner of war
A prisoner of words
Like a soldier
I'm a fighter
Yet only a puppet

Mostly I only say what you want to hear
Could you take it if I came clear?
Or would you rather see me
Stoned on a drug of complacency and compromise
M.I.A.
I guess that's what I am
Scraping this cold earth
For a piece of myself
For peace in myself

It'd be easier if you put me in jail
If you locked me away, I'd have someone to blame
But these bars of steel are of my making
They surround my mind and have me shaking
My hands are cuffed behind my back

I'm a prisoner of the worst kind, in fact
A prisoner of compromise
A prisoner of compassion
A prisoner of kindness
A prisoner of expectation
A prisoner of my youth
Run too fast to be old
I've forgotten what I was told
Ain't I a sight to behold?

A prisoner of age dying to be young
To my head is my hand with a gun
And it's cold and it's hard
Cause there's nowhere to run
When you've caged yourself by holding your tongue

I'm a prisoner of words unsaid
Just lonely feelings locked away in my head
It's like solitary confinement every time I stay quiet
I should start to speak but I stop and stay silent
And now I've made my own hard bed
Inside a prison of words unsaid

*~Alicia Keys, Def Poetry Jam*~