Penalty is the price we pay,
For what we do, the words we say,
Ambling about life's twisted way.

Penalty is the smoldering stake,
Set aflame by the chances we take,
Charred by the myriad choices we make.

Penalty is a dream; crushed, torn,
That we leave, broken and forlorn,
As what we've lost, we deeply mourn.

Penalty is the price we pay.

This is a tercet - more specifically a triplet - three lines of rhyming verse: AAA, BBB CCC. But I wanted make it ten lines so I repeated the first line to get to the count, though I now wonder if it spoils the rhyme scheme, the poetic form or it enhances the effect. 

Well, I guess the reader can be the judge.