Mistletoe

Some knots are meant to bind
Hold you fast and still
Confine your mind and body
Freedom and self-government denied
A pawn never to be queened
Sacrificed for position and power
Of small value when lost
No endgame ever in sight

My hands have become feeble
The fingers bent and broken
Misused by pointless labor
In search of earthly wealth
No dexterous movements now
Ornate twists are quite denied
Age shakes her fist and laughs
Safe beyond these digits reach

So now forced I ask politely
Request cooperation in My way
Negotiating with the loving smile
Rather than a hand raised high
And yes it always pains Me so
More than these rheumatic joints
Cutting deep My parchment flesh
Mirroring the surgeon's knife

You see Me now and know love
Where once you would have felt awe
Recognize wisdom and experience
Foreswearing obedience and servitude
Yet still I sit astride Himalayan peaks
Looking down from height won bitterly
But wishing that the climb was easier
Pinnacle reached amidst My prime

Bondage is your pleasure now
I have been fixed in time and place
Punishment is your delicious treat
These hands have beaten life enough
Hemi-parasitic have I ever been
Capable of breathe but little else
Starving for the comfort of some form
To drape My dark and weary stalk upon

Yes My dear it is you who supports
Bears the weight of all the sins willingly
Carries unquestioning through selection
Sturdily reaching for the canopy above
The lush forest is dwindling too fast
My kind will feel the sun's rays soon
And All will shrivel in the brightness
For want of such priceless service