within the gates of pain that lock
my soul to the post of past transgressions
i pay this penance for that which was
altered when the sun shone, and the moon
was ripe with strawberries and songbirds…
would that i release this soul to find the freedom
that dogs it so, yet apology’s song sounds
weak when presented upon winter’s
cold blow, now nothing but pain remains
within the heart that lingers still upon
days past, haunted by that which was
already accepted as fate
and drawn down into the cold entrance
of a venerable, indefatigable hell