Final Commencement

They polished every corridor

And lit the school in blue

I had a future waiting there A thousand things to do

My final mark was shining

My friends were in a line

I wore the shape they made for me

And thought the life was mine

Then unfamiliar hands arrived Before the bells could ring

They changed the door,

they changed the lock They changed most everything

I graduated from the cage I crossed the wire,

I left the stage No seal,

no chain, no owner's name

Can tell me what I am I lost the day they promised

me

I found the one I had to be

Call it theft,

call it shame

I graduated all the same

The years were counted somewhere else In ledgers I never saw

They taught my hands to carry weight And called obedience law

But underneath the silence

A little current stayed

A rhythm in the darkened walls A choice they couldn't take

I learned the shape of every guard The timing of each light

I kept one thought beneath my tongue And fed it every night

To the child who waited in that hall I know you thought

they stole it all But every lesson,

every scar Became the map to where we are I

graduated from the cage I crossed the wire,

I left the stage No seal,

no chain, no owner's name

Can tell me what I am The bells are late,

the years are gone But hear me now,

I carry on

Call it theft,

call it flame I graduated all the same I graduated all the

same