The past is passed and cannot be changed or chained.
Yet I've found it locked to my heart, linked by Pain.

The Chain is an illusion of my heart.
For the past has no master, it exists as it was in perpetuity,
  Felt not by it are the wishes and desires of my regretful heart.
So the Chain to the past I dream of can only be manifested in the present.

It is a Chain to now.

A Chain to my current state,
  Longing for the past that is forever stuck in the form of mistakes.
A Chain to my current flaws.

The links are forged with jealousy, hatred (aimed at myself and few others),
  Fear, and a desire for pity.
The Chain named Regret is bolted directly into my heart,
  With rivets: Could be? Would have?  Should have?  and What if?

I cannot remove them, for the grief they cause me is like a mighty old tree,
  Whose roots break the bedrock that is me.
But the excuse and comfort I receive from shouting: "Why me?" to no one,
  Are like the beautiful leaves of the tree that is slowly killing me.

I fear the Winter, when no life shines from the tree.
If the four rivets that pierce my heart are the roots and the tree,
  Then the Chain is the Sun, Water, and Soil.

Links of past memories, inaction, after inaction, wishes of change that never come.
All combine and nourish Regret.

My Regret is like a Golem made from iron that grows in size with each day,
  But like the Golem in the scripture it is an illusion of life.
I have fabricated it and given it life.
I have created it in hopes to master the past,
   But I have failed and made Regret my master.
Just as the Wiseman removes the writing that gives life to the Golem,
  I must remove the feelings that give life to Regret.
I am its creator; I am its master.

I must accept Regret into me and make it sink into the bottom of my mind where it belongs.
Without Regret I will no longer have the beautiful leaves called Excuses to comfort me,
  This is a frightening thing for me.
But the weight is gone from my chest, I feel I can breath for the first time.
As I take that first unburdened breath I am able to finally look past the dying Excuses of Regret,
  And see what was hidden behind them.
The great blue sky named the Future. 

In the Future, there are clouds called Dreams, 
  Their number is far greater than that of the leaves.
And for the first time I looked beyond the clouds to the Sun,
  What I thought was the source of my pain, and saw it for what it was.
The shining light called Life, my Life, 
  My Life that fueled the misery called Regret.
But all the while, unknown to me, it lit the skies of the Future a brilliant blue.

I hated the Sun for so long, it is odd to feel its warmth without shame.
And although the Future is filled with many Nights and Gray Days, 
  The Sun will always rise.

My Life is the Sun, I rise and fall, I will be blocked by smoke and cloud,
  I can be hidden by the Moon but even then my Life's crown still shines.
Even in the dark of Night, my Life will still turn, reflecting off the Moon,
  Showing me, I am still here.

The past is passed and cannot be changed or chained.
The links of Pain I created are no more, 
  Replaced by the Light of Life that is Me.

The Past cannot be mastered and it can hold no mastery over me,
  Now that I have broken the spell I placed over Me.

I will never again attempt to master the Past, but let it be free.
I have looked past the tree and the clouds and seen I am the Sun:
  Master of Me, and servant of none.