Locked in a prison of my own making.
Iron and stone bind me, confine me.
Mortared by fear and doubt,
Bars and locks forged in misery.
Serving my sentence in solitude,
Believing I must shield those I love
From the pain of quilt by association.
I can never be someone to be proud of?
Stigma is my penitence,
Whispers and knowing glances my judgment.
Can I ever shed my shackles?
Will the tortuous voices ever grow silent?
Inside this cell of madness
Surrounded by ghosts of a clear mind
I mark the passing days scraping stone against stone,
Praying one day for a pardon, sanity redefined.
Thin spiral notebook 
This is terrific Tara.
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So glad you liked it.
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A very beautiful piece!
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Thank you, Josslyn.
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You’re welcome. 🙂
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One of the best poems I have read in a very long time. Loved it.
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Thank you very much!
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No…Thank you 🙂 I read it now 3 times and if I come back two more times then I will reblog 🙂
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I appreciate your admiration, but I have disabled the reblog feature. I’ve never liked that particular option.
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I don’t like it either. I don’t like it if people reblog my “stuff” without my OK -if that makes any sense. I feel that is often just used to fish for readers and followers and that’s not what it should be about -if that makes any sense.
I am glad you told me.
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I’m glad you feel the same way about reblogging. Luckily, since that feature was introduced, I’ve been asked permission first to reblog, but when we were given the option to disable it, I jumped on that. I didn’t like that the original author had no control over how long the truncated portion of their post was published. I sometimes just post a photo, or a very short haiku, that meant my entire post was republished. Nope, didn’t like that at all. Thanks for understanding.
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