“Pledge to Honor”

four walls   

         love, duty, responsibility, need   

                     box me into near solitude   

pressed by decisions   

         I bare this weight without grace   

                     floundering   

the brace of your love   

         supports me   

                     alone I will fail   

with three   

                     I can survive   

longingly, I look to our past   

         ache for its loss   

I fear today   

I dread tomorrow   

         trying to fulfill my pledge to honor   

Copyright 2012 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman