IMPRISONED

The walls and bars that surround us

The doors shut tight and locked

Are not built

By human hand and wood

But rather

By human thought and action

Ours

Theirs

Mine

All

Jailers judges We Me

Accusers of our journey

No wonder

That we each flee

To self-imposed isolation

And become

Restraining and condemning

Of

Love

Life

Pleasure

Perceiving these

For the privileged and forgiven

But not for You or Me

The voices of the past

Condemn us to the repetition

Of their folly

And in our present

Unforgiving unforgotten

Judging still

Reminders easily found

When our own Truth

Cannot be seen or heard

Perceptions Relationships Actions

That some would call

Mistakes Poor choices

And label

Failure Guilt and Blame

Rather than

As we must needs see

All to be

As strengthening

And lessons to be learnt

This prison that is me

Is you

Condemns the present

To the repetition of the past

And we

So bound and overwhelmed

By all we see and feel

Imprison ourselves

Becoming

Guilty of a disillusioned life

And They Me We

The jailers to our fears

Remind us daily

Of our self-inflicted chains

Supposing

Bondage to equate to guilt

And guilty we may be

But not guilty

As supposed

But guilty only

Of not knowing

Our self-worth

Guilty

Of allowing others to rob us

Of our self-respect

And disempower us

With their blame and shame

Guilty I

Of not defending self

Guilty I

Of caring more for others than for I

Guilty I

For falling on my sword

When battle raged

And all defence was gone

And guilty too

Of imprisoning my Soul

That falters weeps loses hope

And retreats to self-exile

The battle that is lost without

Beyond compare

To the warring here within

That continues unabated

Uncontrolled

No jailers there to settle riots

Send to cells

Punish and contain

Only Me

Knowing that in truth

It is I

Who is judge jailer and accuser

Of myself and

To my Soul

And only I

I

It is

Only

Who can grant

Clemency and release

To set this captive free

And in the freeing

Come at last to the justice

That is the knowing

That All

Is neither right nor wrong

All simply is

And therefore

No forgiveness of self or other

Is required

For I have been

They have been

We are

The co-creators of our journeys

And none that has occurred

Can truly rob

Us Me We

 Of our Truth

Our Worth

Our reason for Being

Detours

Detractors

Negative energy

Vulnerabilities

Decisions and perceptions

All moments in time

But none of them truly

Me

You

We

Victims

Of our past and paths

Perhaps

But victors more

Of all that I We can Be

And in the healing

I

Like a bird

That finds its wings at last

Soar above the storms of Life

Both past and present

See the future

I have yet to dream

And

Know

I Am

At last

Free

To BE

To be ME