The Reason I Burn Poem by Thea Pound

How sweet the days that long have passed,
How warm the fond memory,
Before the dice of fate were cast,
Before sorrow sought company.
Misfortune fell, he turned his heart,
The love now turned to rage,
His temper sheared the family apart,
His sins became my cage.

Skip ahead a few more years,
I grew beneath her gaze,
Evermore into the man she feared,
Yet loved before those days.
Bittersweet became our home,
Resentment began to seep,
She left me loveless and alone,
The blame is mine to keep.

A friend would come to light my way,
Though I'd been lost so long;
Though anxious of what he would say,
His guidance made me strong.
He raised me up with all he taught,
Gave me dignity and pride,
Yet, with his death, it came to nought,
And with him, my faith died.

Embittered to my very core,
Broken by the life I lead,
The world seemed wretched and torn,
And wrought with misery;
The ones I knew were stainless,
With the freedom to abuse,
Though I knew life wasn't painless,
Those men had no excuse.

Each nail was slowly driven in,
This coffin seals my humanity tight,
And so it falls to the monster within,
To reach where I set my sights.
This nature with which I was gifted,
Has a lesson that soon you will learn;
Until this injustice has lifted,
The fires of hatred will burn.