Stolen: A Paranoid’s Confession of Faith

My freedom is stolen:

            My actions and body are not my own;

            I am kept as a slave.

My aspirations are stolen:

            My future is out of my power to control or decide;

            I am stuck in this caste.

My labor is stolen:

            I toil for the scraps they give me;

            They own what I produce.

My thoughts are stolen:

            Society and the media control my mind;

            I can’t think on my own.

My desires are stolen:

            My DNA and instincts control what I want;

   I am only a beast.

My charity is stolen:

            In every act they find an ulterior motive;

            To them, I give only to help myself.

 My children are stolen:

            The state and the media tell them what to think and what to be;

            They are not mine to shape and raise.

My community is stolen:

            I am only a source of money and labor to those around me;

            I am what I consume and exist to be consumed.

My needs are stolen:

            I always need what is just beyond my reach;

            This treadmill just won’t stop.

My religion is stolen:

            I am told what to believe without explanation;

            Or I am told I can’t believe without proof.

I am never mine.

I am never me.

They only take.

They always interfere.

Alienation is my human condition.