While I eventually plan to publish one of my longer poems, I'll publish another from 2009 today.  The message in this one is pretty clear, but I find myself often fighting to be the best person I can (versus bad, OK, or even plain ole good enough).  I think many of us feel like we want to be better people and that we often 'derail' (so to speak) in our efforts.  I also believe all of us can regroup, heal, and get back on course when we falter.  To me, the ennobling and enabling power of love is the greatest force to evoke true change.  I could go on about feeling that love, offering that love, etc., but I won't. :)

I never officially gave this a title, and the closest I could come to at the time was Chains, so here it is.

Untitled (Chains)
Assuage the hurt, and take this pain
That burns like acid in my veins

I lose my thoughts like horses reins,
Distracting me from all that's sane

So Clutch! Re-grasp! And start again,
Regroup! Control. Push back this train.

Derailed by souls' eternal bane
But by Love saved, if she were fain

So let Her wash away my stains
And lead me from this lost terrain.

To change my wizened heart's refrain
And purge it through 'til good remains.

by Richard Bailey July 14, 2009

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