Ties That Bind

We are bound to each other
By ties and lies
By hi's and goodbyes;
By treacherous memories
That romanticize our indiscretions.
Deep down we all believe in happy endings;
We all pretend to think
That everything will be all right,
That every cloud has a silver lining;
That people can change.
Well, seasons change, but people don't
And most times storm clouds
Bring nothing but rain.

It is in the simplest acts of letting go
That we find the relief that comes with closure;
In the tearing-up of old poems,
The letting go of mementos,
The erasure of photographs.
In these simple acts the iconoclast
Begins to unravel the chain that weighs him down.
Soon, the tears dry and the midnight sighs
Once so pregnant with longing, with grief
Give way to fractured smiles, and the downcast eyes
Begin to light up with relief
As we unburden ourselves
And unravel the ties
That bound our misery so tightly about us.