I Climbed Poem by Nick Leow

'i climbed'

they told me:
you belong on the ground.
stay in your lane.
know your limits.

but the fence was low,
and the branch looked kind,
so i went.

not to prove them wrong—
but to see
if the sky
felt any different
up close.

from here,
feet blur into patterns,
voices lose their shape.
no one looks up.

but i do.
i see things
the coop never showed me—
how silence stretches,
how wind carries,
how being alone
can feel like
being found.

they say i'm strange.
i say—
maybe strange
is just another word
for free.

i won't climb down
to make them comfortable.
i didn't climb
for applause.

i climbed
because i could.
because i needed to.
because the ground
never taught me
who i was.