Cut yourself free

from the weight of all not forgiven

a constricting of vitality, past failures squeeze

the tangle of rope, disallows a full breath.

Each memory binds, an internal tightening

of a time you did not stop it,

didn’t stand up tall for yourself.

Patterns of knots encircle your being.

Twisted, wound round, strangled voice.

If you would have been smarter, stronger, better …

If only you had been more.

© Ali Grimshaw Revised 2018