Restrained by a past that is still haunted
By yesterday’s ghosts, within and without.
Notions of possibility daunted
For you are manacled by crippling doubt.
Self-imposed regret acts as a chained ball
That restricts your future reach into light.
Hopelessness and despair, a leadened shawl
Like life’s straitjacket, with its straps pulled tight.
Nested, because the truth of your world stings,
Though fledged, you’re too introverted to fly.
Let me breathe stillness beneath unsure wings
Your Jess loosened, let’s take flight, you and I.