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Far above my head, I watch the moon,
Yellow and round behind the mountains rise.
I should think at any minute it'd break free,
And race across the sky with light to shine.
In infinite space to frolic with devotion,
To skip across the stars and planets bound.
Why instead by sheer obedience be bound,
And take orders from another? You're the moon!
What sort of fear commands this grave devotion?
The unfailing duty to wane and fall and rise?
To stay on course in constant wait to shine?
Should not we all, as if like god, be free?
My answer friend, I am chained to be most free.
To guide the weary, lost, and wayward bound,
With streams of light beams in the dark to shine;
Pull tides, leave pools, display the man in the moon.
To pulse out a rhythm for life with my faithful rise.
What blessed cuffs that cause such great devotion.
Dear friend, forced obeisance fails at true devotion.
You perform grand feats indeed, but you're not free.
I bid you once before your moment make your rise,
Break loose from this dark cycle that you're bound,
And you will guide your own way, bright moon.
It is then there'll be no bound'ries to your shine.
Could scattered ink provoke the face to shine?
Or soundless verse portend the heart's devotion?
Steady course incites you run from fettered moon.
These chains like words are instruments that free.
By rhythm, voice, and tongue I see you're bound,
The Creator's limits permit each one full rise.
Great words to ponder, do I above the maker rise,
Whilst seek in self to dictate how you shine?
If freedom is from binding, by what shall I be bound?
Could joy and full life come by giving rich devotion
To one who is a master, yet constrains me to be free?
Vast things I must reflect upon today, dear Moon.
Like the tide, do rise in newly found devotion.
To the Beloved be ever bound and you will be free.
Restrained, most brilliantly to shine, like the moon.
© Mischelle Sandowich 2009
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Mischelle Sandowich is a member of Covenant Presbyterian Church, but more importantly, she is a child of God saved by grace. She has her bachelor's degree in Christian Ministries from the Master's College. She has written freelance for The Kern Valley Sun; her poetry has been published in Metamorphoses (2002); and her poetry and short stories have been published in the 2009 edition of Reflections of the Kern. She is happily married, with one daughter still at home.
The poem "Fettered Moon" was inspired by chapter three, Christianity Is a Straight Jacket, of Timothy Keller's book The Reason for God. Mischelle originally wrote the poem freeform but later decided the content demanded structure and chose to write a sestina.
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