CHAINS

I loved my father's story
Of the skilled locksmith
Who, enchained, looked at each link
And declared:
"I cannot escape from these ‑
I made them myself"

But not the interpretation,
Apt though it was,
That the links were habits,
Binding irretrievably.

Lord, teach me the skill
To forge for myself chains,
That I may inescapably be made
A prisoner of Jesus Christ,
A willing bondman.

For it was love which bonded
Christ to the servant's path, linked
Christ to the cross, held
Christ in the grave.