From day one their creativity is confined.
Stuck in a graded prison
and condescendingly told they are unique,
but taught all the same.
An endless cycle of five consumes their life
for 12 tiresome years.
All the while, the dark cloud of obligation accumulates.

Free at last from their worn cell walls,
only to be resentenced into a new foreign prison for four more.
More time to drown imagination
in toxic words and liquids.
The dark cloud engulfs this world.
There is only one path to the light, one career.
Some seek riches, others pursue happiness.

As their sentence comes to an end,
another begins.
For those who chose joy, it is not so.
Those who chose fortune live a lifetime of regret.