The Silver Chain: A Poem about Experiencing poetry

A silver chain

in human minds,

Which we must train our eyes to find,

Bounds emotion to each other--

One feels pain, so does another.
The same ideas, same beliefs
That make us yearn, that make us weep,
Are all the thoughts that man ensnared
When he held you,
and he cared.
 

Why do we trust this silver chain
To hold our hands and guide our words?
To this, I wish that I had learned
About the strength of binding chains,
Plasticity of human range,
That, though we're tied, we are not slaves,
But in refuge of the iron cage;
That, while we're all restrained and tethered--
 

Should we not feel pain together?
 

Sometimes, with freezing, teething rage,
My heart still beats against the cage--
But as the chain
Constricts my brain,
I've learned what feelings to engage;
To open, and to feel with you
The healing that the chain can do.

The silver chain,

which lives and dies

In the resin of our eyes,

Will not let us run away--

It whispers, it begs of us to stay.