God Breaks the Chains

God Breaks the Chains (Sestina Poetry)

by Marieta Maglas

(A meditation in a complex verse form on what it means to move 
from blindness to sight, from gloom to light,
and God's role in lifting us from that blindness, so long as we are open to faith.
The reference to the pool of Siloam at the end of the poem
recalls our readings this past weekend; the image is by James Tissot.)

When even nothing ever goes my way

I try to keep my goals within my sight.

I hope that they can lead to joy someday,

While overpass these metaphoric night.

Between those crazy things leading to doom,

I am quite melancholic in the gloom.

My life may be infected with the gloom.

When darkness spreads its wicked wings on the way.

In waiting for the approach of next doom,

I am the girl in search for nature’s sight.

When jagged rocks pinch and stick me overnight,

I search that something lifting me someday.

My faith grows strongly, and I hope someday,

Winds of tomorrow will enlight the gloom.

Faith, love and truth will be like stars at night.

Knowledge will be as bright as Milky Way.

As long as rightness will be brought to sight,

And lie will be a sticky bomb of doom.

I utter an impending sense of doom

Like poison killing everything someday.

Or icy flowers shaking in wind’s sight.

We end with hope, and we begin in gloom,

While we’re changing our lives along the way.

We’re making sense of all from day to night.

As fears are left unspoken in the night,

We feel this ending as a latest doom.

Sad minds still try to find a living way,

Hoping that they will save themselves someday.

They make important changes in the gloom.

Religious leaders teach Christian sight,

When wisdom is the synonym of sight,

And blind guides are to lead the blinds in night,

Some end with hope, others begin in gloom,

Between those sinful acts leading to doom,

Praying to God to save their souls someday.

Against all odds they try to find their way.

At Siloam, the blind received his sight.

In working faith the blind could leave his night.

God breaks our chains, and brings us out of gloom.

(Note:  Sestina poetry is a highly complex form that relies on the strict repetition of the same six words in varied orders in each stanza and ending with a three-verse envoi.  To read more about sestina poetry, click here.)

Poem source
Image source (James Tissot, "The Blind Man Washes in the Pool of Siloam" (1886-1894)