Captives Of Pain

Shall we heal, or continue

to suffer deep, open wounds?

can we move beyond past wars

and fully engage in this moment

of opportunity and overcoming?

We do have a choice but

have we fallen into a pattern

of surveying old war wounds

so deep we fall heart first

into an ocean of hopelessness?

Shall we dwell in the past

or be determined to leave it

there where it eventually ended?

do we let the dead bury the dead

or constantly resurrect it?

Do we acquiesce, embrace death

continue captivity to past pain

or be determined to heal and live 

in the grace of he who sets captives 

free?