This thought process was started on our 60th Independence day. I was thinking about how we holler that we are free and celebrate our freedom every year......but are we free really? What does freedom mean to any one of us? Does freedom mean only that we are able to select our own representatives to govern us? How is that different from the freedom of a convict given the choice of poison he needs to take? These thoughts were swirling in my head but till today I was not able to structure it well enough to put it into words...Then today morning while mailing a friend, something I wrote took me back to all these thoughts...and the result is given below for all of you to see...I have titled this..."Dreams"
When I was just a child,
I was told"dream"
And let your dreams run wild
Knowing only to obey, I dreamt
Dreams of a world well kept
I dreamed of days without bloodshed
And nights without fear
Where everyone was well fed
And a smile was always near
I dreamt of a world where love prevailed
And hate was never there to be blamed
I dreamt of a land where people were free
Free of all the bonds, free as they should be
But still there were chains that tied them together
Golden chains of love, tying brother to brother
Silver chains of trust tying man to man and
With hand in hand to the new future they ran
And then I woke up with a start
I heard them shouting from the rampart
"Hear ye Hear ye all who are free"
"It's been sixty years since freedom was given to thee"
Still dazed from the sleep, I look around
And I don't see any freedom to be found
All I see around me are chains
Not the gold and silver of love and trust
But dirty black ones full of rust
Chains of lies, hate and betrayal
And man in them in a state of denial
He chooses to close his eyes
When with a final cry, his brother dies
My dreams return to haunt me
And they show me a picture of what has to be
It's about time we stopped dreaming
And make a little sacrifice
A small sacrifice of dreams
To realize the ones we've already dreamed.....
