BOUND,
you say
you are
to terms
imposed
on you
that day
you cut me loose,
let me go.

You walked
head held high
right past me,
confined
already
in a cell
of unknowing
where I remain
BOUND,
not at liberty.

Years now –
I’ve had
few visitors
here on the
lockdown ward.

They say
it’s not
temporary,
you argued for
life
imprisonment
when judge
and jury
convened
behind
closed doors
without me,
defendant of an
unnamed crime
unwelcome,
not at liberty
to hear
charges
levied
against me
by unknown
accusers.

The facts
scream at me,
bounce off
these four walls
that keep truth out
and hold silence
that is my hell in.

The facts say
those handcuffs
you wear are
mere illusion,
a tool intended
for your own
protection.

The facts say
you are afraid
of truth
and LOVE
and me,
and I must
accept
my sentence
without complaint
and forget you,
the one
to whose heart
my own is
BOUND.

But I am
BOUND
by hope
and
not at liberty
to let go
of LOVE.

It is the
only thing
I can
recall
at all
and
I wish it
for the world
and for myself.

And most of all,
I wish LOVE
for you,
BOUND,
not at liberty.

May
freedom
shake our worlds
and forgiveness
tumble down
like waterfalls
of grace.

May we both
be at liberty
again,
restored to
right relationship
and reconciled
to the hard work
of harmony.

May
all peoples
everywhere
build bridges
and tear down
towers of division
and prisons of degradation.

May
there be none
who walk free
but feel BOUND,
not at liberty.