The fear of wrongdoing

Set ablaze in brimstone and fire

Unbind indulgence first

Pass on the freedom to desire

Only when a choice is made

Can truth set a soul free from the liar

Virtue stagnates in church

When lessons are preached to the choir



The fence before trespass

Constructs a mountain to trust sought

Hands tied behind the front

Holding back sin but not the thought

With no choices to make

The battle of innocence un-fought

Leads not to temptation

But further from the lessons untaught

12/26/1982

Author's Note: Had it not been three years before I saw the movie "A Clockwork Orange", I would think I had written this poem immediately after seeing it. One of my favorite oldies, I had lost this poem, along with a dozen others, in a notebook that got packed away while I was moving back in the late 80's. I was going through my storage room looking for some old tapes and found the notebook at the bottom of a box. I was happily shocked to find them to say the least.

Posted on 09/14/2005
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