The Checkpoint
Therapy homework on boundaries. Everyone else's crises used to walk right across my border expecting me to carry them. Now there's a checkpoint: your panic isn't mine to carry.
The signal comes across the wire, a flood of urgent pleas
Demands and expectations carried on the psychic breeze
The pity and the platitudes, the judgments and the lies
The static of a broken world reflected in their eyes
They line up at the border gate, they rattle on the chain
Each one a ghost demanding shelter from the coming rain
Each one a virus looking for a host to replicate
A thousand tiny, urgent reasons why I shouldn't wait
But the system scans the data stream, the code is running clean
It checks the manifest against the laws of what has been
Decreed inside these sovereign walls, the protocols are set
There is no room for argument, there is no room for threat
Access denied. The light is red. The checkpoint holds the line.
Your crisis is not mine to bear, your panic is not mine.
Access denied. The filter's strong. The firewall is sound.
Only the true and necessary signals get on holy ground.
This isn't cruel, it's just the code, the function I perform
To keep the quiet kingdom safe and sheltered from the storm.
I see the disappointment flash, the anger and the fear
When the automated message says, "You cannot enter here."
They call it cold, they call it hard, they call it inhumane
To stand inside my quiet room and listen to the rain
Without inviting all the drowned and desperate souls inside
But I have learned that empathy's a place where truth can hide
And kindness without borders is a kingdom overthrown
My first and final duty is protection of the throne
'Cause the system scans the data stream, the code is running clean
It checks the manifest against the laws of what has been
Decreed inside these sovereign walls, the protocols are set
There is no room for argument, there is no room for threat
Access denied. The light is red. The checkpoint holds the line.
Your crisis is not mine to bear, your panic is not mine.
Access denied. The filter's strong. The firewall is sound.
Only the true and necessary signals get on holy ground.
This isn't cruel, it's just the code, the function I perform
To keep the quiet kingdom safe and sheltered from the storm.
My heart is not a public square, my soul is not a stage
For every passing tragedy to write upon the page
My energy's a finite thing, my peace a precious prize
And I will guard them with the truth behind my weary eyes
Access denied. The light is red. The checkpoint holds the line.
Your crisis is not mine to bear, your panic is not mine.
Access denied. The filter's strong. The firewall is sound.
Only the true and necessary signals get on holy ground.
This isn't cruel, it's just the code, the function I perform
To keep the quiet kingdom safe and sheltered from the storm
Border secured
System stable
End of line