Canary In A Mine

• Nayma Joarder, Grade 10
• Poetry
• 2012

Trapped. Can't. Breathe. Struggling.
Preyed. Like a butterfly, caught in a web.

Can't. Escape. Helpless. Insignificant.
Shattered. Broken fragments. Hurt.

Bruised beats. Agony. Useless shrieks.
No one. Cares. Abandoned. Choking.

Flickering in the gloomy distance.
Illuminating murkily. A wisp of light.

Renewed surge of hope. Expectant. Help?
Closer. Brighter. Extinguished.

Nope. Not a chance. False hopes.
More despair. No hopes. Alone.

Futile gasps. Strangled breaths.
Deathly silence. Black, suffocating darkness.

Haste and reap, Death. Just realised.
Little canary's singing no more.