Shackles

Down a tricky pernicious path
I traveled, elusive slithering
Desires luring me to become
Something other than I am,
Sewn by alteration’s clever hand

Power emitted from words spoken
Simmered beneath the surface of my thoughts
Underhanded insinuations came crashing
Down around me, their meandering menace
Tainting his beyond here-and-now allure

Thoughts of life transformed from
Some vast expansive uniformity into
Dreams, like dust, their inherent brilliance
Scattered in the wind, craving more relevancy
Seeking freedom to experience anything, everything

Saddened by uncertainty
Inside the cave I discovered
Where the screams of my heart
Echo against the shadowed
Shackled visage of my soul

Without warning the grand
Scheme of it all transcended
The confines of time, silently
Awaited the choice I had to make
When conscience touched the sky

If only I had considered
Digression’s denigration, how
It would color my perceptions
How long I would feel the weight
Of the shackles of my story