We are all born free, it’s from our first breath that we trade in love, care, play and our associations become our bonds. As life transitions our wants and needs become our bondage. We are free yet we know not what freedom is, we chase happiness yet it taunts us just beyond our reach. We are free yet our time belongs not to us but to the pursuit of happiness, that which dances beyond our grasp. We are free yet we live a life doing another’s bidding and our moments belong not to us but to the past or to the unknown future. Precious currency spent on what was not and what could have been. We are free yet we do what we are told to do and thus authority becomes our truth while the truth eludes us. Weighed down by the falsehood of our being we struggle to be free and unchain the chains we spent a lifetime forging and we seem to be doing what we want to do. Yet, freedom eludes us and happiness taunts dancing just beyond reach. Till the moment comes when the final resting place is ready, the pillow awaits the final words and we know not what to write.
Prisoners by birth we know not who we are or who we could have been. We were so free that we touched no lives spent no currency on laughter, no thought to the present for today like each day gone by we had so much to see, love learn, teach, share change. We have no greater absolute waste, than those moments lost, which had nothing to give, our failure lies in not having tried as the moments passed unspent. As we write and rewrite searching for the words which will fill the space, we know not what to say, for a hand full of pennies we have left are not enough for that single moment of truth. Our time on earth, the currency of life wasted on trinkets. As the pile of crumpled paper grows we write on our pillows far lesser than what could have been and know that there is no greater sorrow than to repent in retrospect on that which shall NEVER RETURN…..
I am free for I have learnt that my truth is to be discovered as I grow and learn to share every moment with not a care for its wages. I’m free for I chase not happiness but know that it is in my heart when I wish well for those around me. I’m free for I am discovering the power of silence, the space to listen. I’m free for I know I tried for all that could be done. I’m free every moment when there is joy in the many eyes I care for. I'm free for I have seen life pays handsomely if I can but try to do not what I'm told or what I want but what is right by my conscience. I am free for my soul lives and smiles, for my moments have something to give, my head is held high, and my truth is my own. My peace is made; my pillow awaits the words "she lived".
