Untied Laces ... Poem

I'm drowning in your reign

of terror against my private domain

You want to own me like

a farmer owns livestock

Lock me in the stocks of

the drudgery role of

back in the day

when male dominance decayed

a woman's love until it faded away

You want to chide me

scold me like the parent

of a child errant

hold me a prisoner

be my rearranger

in something you call love

Iron fist in a steely glove

Love cannot possess or obsess

Love cannot be expressed in a barred fortress

Cannot demand obedience

of a free spirit dead-locked against

the cage set against the fence

Love does not imprison

a heart against its mission

or hold a woman against her will

Should you try to bruise or kill her will

the imagined object

of your blurred affection

who is object to no one

will flee to those places

where a heart can soar with untied laces



Karen Chaffee 2008
All Rights Reserved