New Poem: heavy are the chains

In my continuing experiments with the haiku form, inspired by a haiku chain on absolutewrite.com, I have composed a full-circle chain of 48 speculative haiku.  This is done by taking the last line of the previous haiku and using it for the first line of the next haiku in the chain, and making the last line in the last haiku the first line in the first haiku (full-circle).  All the haiku in the chain are of a speculative nature, whether fantasy, sci-fi, horror, paranormal, or slipstream.  Some have satirical or otherwise humorous elements.  It was interesting to see the piece evolve, fluidly going from topic to topic and genre to genre.