Free

Here’s a possibility —

A space a box creates

by enclosing it

(corners like elbows 

pushing out to make room)

Here’s a possibility:

We could be free.

Free is something 

I have maybe never been

Though we are told we are

We’re also told there’s no free lunch

So there you go.

We are not free if we are bought

We are not free if we must buy our right to be

with work on tasks we wouldn’t choose

on projects that don’t serve us.

Here is a thought:

If I’m enslaved,

It’s my own mind that chains me

That tells me things must be this way

That I don’t have a choice

That I should never deign to think

that I deserve to choose my work,

To own my gift.

Here’s a possibility:

A whisper in a little box —

The box could grow until

it can contain us all

and we can learn

our freedom.

©Wendy Mulhern

November 29, 2011