Punishment

There is no remission,
nothing comes between
a sentence and a punishment –
deserved or not, and you will rot
here at this desk until it ends.

You made your prison,
you chose the scheme
unchecked from rendered memories,
observed or not; this is your lot
by choice – enjoy your aching dreams.

It was your decision.
You said you’d serve
your time with no regrets, let’s not
forget the final words you said:
you know not what you do to me.

Thus the manumission
that you seek evades
our jurisdiction in a clause,
polyglot by contradiction –
you are both master and a slave.
© 21 March 2008, I. D. Carswell