He repeals
a law he has lived by
for a long time,

contemplates
how the first word
he thought of
set the path
for the ones to follow,

how choosing
“repeals” created
the notion of “law,”
how “law” led to
“rules to live by,”
how that opened the door
to “a change of life and
law.”  And so

by repealing a law
he’s held sacred for
most of his life, and then
considering the process
as a function of choosing
the right words and their
intent, he put on fresh clothes,
cinched his belt tight,
and walked out into the sunlight

as the same man who’d lived
arbitrarily locked down
for so long, one who 
having freed himself
at once prepared himself
for the next binding
he’d impose upon himself,

but far more aware,
at least at first,
of his freedom of choice.