!Goretti Publications Gopherspace - Poetry
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I Tie the Cord
Donald P. Goodman III

I tie the cord; I bind myself with knots of five
to hold me far away from my own self and soul
and all that they would lead me to; to self deprive
of all the filth and poison that I long to thole.
I tie the cord; I bind myself to better things,
the peace that puts to flight all suffering and strife,
the poverty that gives the hungry soaring wings,
the death that brings the dying to a better life.
I tie the cord, and knot it fivefold tight and sure,
above the valley with my demons full and rife;
the cord which binds the joyful sorrows I endure
to my own self and to their everlasting cure.