With Salem Far Behind Me
I enjoy doing things which once were forbidden
Right out in the open where once they were hidden
And writing it down then (if elliptically)
All rhymed and reasoned into cryptic poetry
They meant well I know as they tried to repress me
And they succeeded if they tried to impress me
In fact I remain so impressed I get depressed
While passing from the repressed to the unrepressed
(Though to have told it this way is to have digressed)
I started as a puritan became a witch
Left Salem altogether and never got rich
But oh what a way to go! What sweet poverty
Is this perfect freedom to do what pleases me!
Should anyone repress you then anyone lies
We must each live our meaning now before each dies
My path has been circuitous and very strange
But I have learned the only constancy is change
You feel (nor do I blame you) change is frightening
But this is how to bloom feels! Your enlightening
Is only strange to you because you have just met
And yet better to love and lose than to regret
(A few lost bets but no regrets as blooms the rose
Yet if a bet is won or lost: only God knows)
With Salem far behind me I will not burn now
Except with curiosity to find out how
To get out of this life all I can while I can
Evolving as a poet from a puritan
While those who repressed me only did what they knew
I know nothing and (I suspect) neither do you
So live it up now and should you come to see me
You can share in my adventure of breaking free
Why wait? Why hesitate? What do you save it for?
You think you have lived but you can always live more
A few lost bets but no regrets as blooms the rose
Yet if a bet is won or lost: only God knows!
How about this? Savor those longshot bets you win
Whether we know it or not we are in this race
Called life yet our destination is not a place
But a process (what a process!): let us begin
I seem strange to you now because we have just met
But come and love me win or lose without regret
A few lost bets but no regrets as blooms the rose
Yet if a bet is won or lost: only God knows
If God is love then in his image so are we
And love like life and God himself is always free
+Steven Curtis Lance
Copyright MMVII
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A beautiful lesson of tolerance in your poetry. Although I am a Christian, it is not up to me to judge. I have several Wiccan friends; they are among my most favorite, honest, loving people I know. I accept people as they are, and hope they do the same by me. Well done!
(((HUGS))) and love, Karla.