Be Free

A fusion of free verse, prose poetry, and lyrical refrain
By Malcolm Gladwin  ( the video is what we did as kids to be free )
 
Be free—like a bird caught in the updraft,
like a fish slipping silver through the currents,
like a balloon let go from a child’s hand,
floating, floating, floating into the blue yonder.
Be free like a song sung with no fear of echoes,
like wild grass bending only to the wind.
 
Life is one life.
One breath, one moment, one golden chance
to walk barefoot where the waves kiss the shore,
where the sea salt burns your nose,
where the wind does not ask before it touches your skin.
Run. Jump. Throw your arms into the sky
let the sun catch you midair.
 
Have you ever watched how the butterfly dances,
how the bee lands, drinks, moves on
how the river spills itself over smooth stones,
never asking where it must go?
Sit beneath the weeping willow,
watch the shadows shift, toes in the passing current
the water never waits, yet it is never lost.
 
Be free. Jump. Clothes on, feet muddy,
off the edge, off the bank, off the cliff
five, four, three, two—SPLASH.
Let the river take your weight,
let it wash away your hardship,
let the wild raspberries stain your lips,
let the lemon grass hold you as you watch the clouds drift
turning into faces, into beasts, into whispers.
 
And when the city calls, remember:
freedom is not found in glass towers,
not in the weight of gold, not in the rush of clocks.
It is in the air we forget to breathe,
the quiet moments we do not hold long enough,
the waiting at the bus stop when we look up really look
and see life moving, unchained.
 
But my freedom
my freedom lies in the ocean’s roar,
in the summer rain that does not ask permission
before it kisses my skin.
 
Here, I am alive.
Here, I am free.