A Writer's Asylum

The stress and grief of daily life Is etched upon my face, The turmoil of a long day’s strife Of failure and disgrace, The mem’ry of a simpler time, The innocence of age, Cast emotions that I set in rhyme To camouflage my rage. Anger, pain, and sadness Transformed slowly into lines, As I try to halt my madness Which my writing undermines, The simple rhyme construction Which to meter will be set, Lures my mind into seduction As I pen a new vignette. Fear of the unknown Casting doubt into my dreams, But the words my mind has sewn Stitches doubting into seams, The meter’s strict mechanics, And the search for each new rhyme, Tends to dull a mem’ry’s panics Better than the passing time. The melding of these simple letters Splashed across the page, Like a lunatic who’s cast in fetters Shackles up my rage, But emotions here can stay in check This life I will not curse, My asylum from a mental wreck Has always been through verse.