Wherefrom arises desire begetting thought,
more so in moments when we think we are still,
imagining ego is reduced to naught
and that we have surrendered to God our will?
It seems clear bondage to form invokes desire
in heart, manifesting as a fearsome fire,
quelled easily enough though if we so choose
without excuse, to make love and light our muse.
Patterns become habits and habits confine.
We cling to routine and yet wish to be free,
hoping in vain to be graced by bliss divine
but the truth is we are tied to our mind tree.
Heart is the centre where thoughts originate,
so we must first make it tranquil and sedate,
whereupon our wayward ego too recedes
liberating soul, since throb of love now leads.
My sonnet has the temper of a screaming child
because I'll not allow it to run free and wild
Mired on a pad, it damns me. "I want to fly free!"
"You're not ready," I whisper. "Put your trust in me."
It cried, trying to hold on to its pregnant dreams
blaming me for aborting expressive rhyme schemes
"Ask your muse to find more decorous selections."
On her advice, I began to make corrections.
I purged all the rhetoric and made a new start
resulting in the birth of a sonnet with heart
I danced for freedom I'd granted to my verses
No longer do I hear the yowling of curses
I will continue to write with a pliant quill
and an open mind with the ink I choose to spill
Refugees are humans, people with sunlit dreams
wishing revenge and pain soon would be gone;
hearts held in vigils, their grief unabated
as rudely cups the night in some foreign place,
to will their wings, freedom from bondage cries.
Journeying far when nights tear homes away
while they await destiny, a time of real peace
clutching on hope no vain attempt for women,
and children bathing in pools of fear-
just because a riddled power struggle taints
this will to live rightly, a universal command.
Stand aloft with the breeze, be mightily proud
let your echoes roar on as liberty sings.
People Contest hosted by Richard Lamoureux
June 2, 2018
how did i reach this point
i may never know
the feelings are overwhelming
they come in waves that
take my breath away
day and night they pursue me
they haunt me like a bad dream
i want to shout it from the rooftops
but when i try to speak
nothing comes out
what am i so afraid of
what is the worst thing
thing that could happen
i could be set free
from this bondage
that has entangled
me for so long
putting it on paper
gives me such a relief
it takes away the hold that
it has on me and gives
me back my life
to live as i choose
and do with as i please
i've been set free
what once was is no longer
the former is the past
today is a new day
of new beginnings
Submitted for Dane Ann Smith-Johnsen’s Contest