Chains

A poem about guarding your heart against hurt

At times I feel free..
and the troubles of my life
are nothing but layers in the
characters of the books that I read.

The sun will shine…
I feel it warm my soul.
The darkness that usually lives there
momentarily finds another place to go.

But just when I relax…
I feel the restraint of heavy chains.
No way could I  love again,
not when they always reel my heart back in.

With every link in the chain
I remember why I live this way.
The cold loneliness is the silent killer
but it is the price that I pay.

The chains I use
to keep others out,
have found a way to keep me in.
I don’t know how to unlock the doubt.

At times I feel free…
times of short sporadic delusion;
when the sun is bright, the air is fresh
and my heart has a chance to dream.

Word count 159
Line count 24