Photo by James Reyes from Pexels
Ultimately what frees her is what binds her
For she discovers nothing is absolutely free
How great teachers differ
About most everything philosophical
How none of them has grasped a golden thread of pure knowledge
It’s wonderful for her self-expression
To know there’s such honored company in cosmic ignorance
But where that leads is to never ending asking
About life
About its meaning
About her bravery in the face of no master holding a definite answer
To her meaning in life
Her many faces of responsibility under the sun
For every freedom she fears must come a loss of freedom
And for every shackle the loss of freedom doubles
Yet for every scanty plot of ground she imagines
There’s a sister who cherishes its simple lack of freedom
“O God!” she hears Hamlet cry in the night
“I could be bounded in a nut shell
And count myself a king of infinite space
Were it not that I have bad dreams”
I think she thinks to herself
That I must need freedom at least to dream
Certainly that freedom is counted sweetest by those who do not have it
She wonders whether freedom isn’t just another word for nothing left to lose
Nothing left to do
Like someday the bird of hope
Perched in total freedom on a bald man’s hair
Watching the earth swimming into manmade nets
That will submerge her
That all the freedoms left in the world can do nothing about
What do you think
Are we ever free if the world’s not free of the burden