Once, not twice I came this way to see a friend of mine;
a friend I say, but not today, for I’d been left behind.
A memory perhaps of glee that somehow slipped away,
that memory is not for me, at least not for today.
For chains that grip my last remains I pleaded oft in hope;
In strains that stripped my pride for stains, and tied me with a rope.
For once, not twice to see you there, in care, or not at all;
the dunce, so nice, became stripped bare, condemned, as such to fall.
Fallen, I have come to you in hope to cut this steel,
this iron forged until the blue of strength gave it this feel;
each link a frozen memory of things that I’ve done wrong;
each piece, a pain I hold in me that’s hurt me for so long.
Once, just once is all it took for me to pass this way;
for once, this once is all I’ll ask, do not send me away.
For who can know that hope won’t grow in Christmas visions new?
Who can know the things we sow won’t grow in seasons due?
But fodder on my clothing now commends me to the dirt;
Instead of songs that I could sing, these chains were my dessert.