Lucy didn’t have a thing to do
So, off she went to a nearby zoo
Studying the animals, most in cages
Lucy sang her freedom’s praises
Freedom is a bird with broken wings in the modern world, trapped in invisible cages of indifference,
Reflecting destiny as a silent shadow, the immutable aspects of existence embrace us with cold arms,
Death, an artist of limits, carves the boundaries of our lives with the chisel of relentless time,
Each human being becomes a prisoner in their own freedom, building an invisible prison with choices.
We are born free, but the irony of fate makes us builders of walls, raising barriers between dreams and reality,
True freedom is not political, but a delicate dance between choice and the inevitable,
The possibility of self-realization becomes a play of shadows and light, a duel between desires and limits,
How we confront our boundaries becomes the ultimate art, a commitment to destiny in each day lived.
In every choice, a window opens to infinity, but we fear to look beyond the bars of habit,
Destiny calls us to embrace its rigor, to make it part of our daily story,
True freedom is a silent rebellion, an acceptance of the inevitable, yet an exploration of the possible,
In this world of contradictions, we find ourselves, both captive and free, creators and prisoners alike.
We spend and end our lives
in the cages of compromise.
(02.20.2024)
Man seems most adept
when building His cages –
the farmer, his barns,
the banker, his vaults,
the priest, his coop of
verses...
Christ offers all freedom
of the Cross~ but few
will disrobe
come out
and be pierced –
Convinced cleansing by
the blood of another – such
Truth a physical cage –
the politician forging bars
of steel~ Satan will take due
at his grave.
Rise!
You are
outgrowing
that smaller shell;
Smash breakable glass!
It’s not fragile;
Cages were
never
real.
Trapped in politics
—victims we remain
(Dreamsleep: September, 2022)
What worth are you?
You deny all knightly sports.
You do not defend our walls.
I heal with no gold.
I free doves from steel cages.
I wait for heaven’s kingdom.
White picket fence surrounds the perfect house
keeping the perfect life inside and intruders out.
White collar job surrounds you every day
keeping the money coming in and play time out.
White crisp clothes surround your body and soul
keeping the correct appearance on the outside.
White French doors surround the bedroom
keeping the perfect wife in her perfect place.
Cages come in different shapes and sizes
keeping you locked away in something not you.
Be bold, strike out. Ignore the cages, allow
people in to the house, go home from work, no overtime.
Be something you want to be.
Not something you’re told to be.
Once, there was a boy who loved animals,
every kind of animal:
it didn't matter; he loved them all!
He had rabbits, pigeons, hamsters, and a raccoon.
The boy kept them well-fed,
cleaned their cages every day
making sure they were happy:
for that made him happy, too.
One day, he was watching the news
and saw children taken from their mothers;
by the border patrol, and placed in cages.
He saw their misery and heard their cries.
They were not happy in their cages:
and he cried, too.
He loved his pets:
and yet, he also kept them in cages.
Now he realized they weren't happy at all:
for like people, they want to live free.
And so, he released all his animals
to an animal sanctuary, and destroyed their cages.
"One doesn't cage what one loves."
In my country, gangs of fiends own the night.
In my country, we lived broken lives of torment.
My family fled with little but our naked terror.
Bleeding and blistered, our feet carried us hundreds of miles.
But I always had my familia.
We migrated in trucks, never sure
we could trust coyotes.
We roamed scorching desert, never
sure we would find food or water.
Sometimes we waited until nightfall, hidden from view.
We were nocturnal prey on winding dirt roads,
never sure if we would be killed.
But I always had my familia.
Our bellies choking from hunger,
our desolate depletion, the final forces
delivering us to the border.
So distant my country, so remote in this
unearthly place where we were captured by
armed strangers, where we were divided by
strangers.
Today, I no longer have my familia.
This day is glass shattering and the shards
cut me open like a skinned rat.
Today I am that bawling baby paralyzed
by panic.
Today I am that shrieking child trembling
in terror.
Today I am that adolescent crowded
in a cage.
Today I am that tortured toddler
crying himself to sleep.
Published: Dissident Voice 11/8/20
In Life we were free
As free as Birds
We could fly around and do as we please
We could touch the skies and walk on moons
We held Life in our hands
And cherished it until the ends
Now a fatal virus flows through our lives
It knocks over all possibilities in Life
It crushes our hopes and dreams
It destroys the values of Life
Now we struggle to fly towards Freedom
We are like Birds in Cages
Locked away from Life behind bars
Fed only Fear instead of Hope
Dreaming only of Death instead of Life
We are like Birds in Cages
If these were light-skinned children with blonde hair
The churches would be full of ministers screaming about it
Mothers would be hitting the streets, protesting.
Wait. They are in Portland. But why not here? What is the problem?
Oh, yes, the Covid 19 is here now. Mothers are locked up with children.
Their own children, all tidy and safe. Losing their jobs. Losing their minds.
Losing their full time babysitter – school. They have more than enough.
So these children are stuck in dog cages, and no one speaks up.
Does anyone realize what this separation from their parents will do?
Depression, sorrow, sadness, despair. Hold up. It is already here.
These children were brought to the USA to find a better life.
No one realized there is a dictator here now, and we are goose stepping.
Not all of us, but enough, the fervent ones who are not listening or seeing.
Their tax breaks are marvelous.
Their billion dollar companies are getting richer taking care of these children.
Treating them like dogs.
Hooray for our present administration. Hooray Hooray.
Think about those kids in cages
As the virus kills and rages
How comfy life is for me
I pray someone sets them free
In Times Like These Contest
Silent One 5/4/20
My mind
is the cage
and I am the bird
that will never
fly free.
Parental desperation
is the dreadful flee bidden cause
Children separation
is the inhumane quarantine effect
Trying to cross the sovereign divide
is narrow mindedly viewed, by more than a few,
as a pestilent travel venture
Ill will is the chilling, unhealthy reception
The uncivil solution: Create an insane policy
for poor souls seeking asylum
Man-made designation is an animal control way station,
(also known as) Borderline K-9 Cages
See the perennially sad puppy eyes
laying fetal prone on the morgue cold, concrete floors
Watch the waning wag of the tongues,
their thirst for freedom dying behind iron bar doors
National psychotic behavior is borderline criminal,
keeping children in cages is morally indefensible
Diamondback mutes devolving into what?
Mental worms turning into heartless slugs!
Children developing separation psychosis
is a lonesome doggone shame
K-9 kids were never meant to be raised in cages,
yet no one wants to bear the blame
But many of the kennel keepers
have gotten so inured to the ear-piercing, borderline pain
And the womb-ripped parents
are never told where the aborted-trip children were taken
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