Freedom —
All the while, they talk of freedom.
What has freedom rendered them?
Has it given them the ability to soar? To fly?
Has it given voice to their inner souls?
Has it helped them rise? Has it got rid of diseases?
Has it got rid of prisons that bar the mind —
of human constructs that hold them back?
What has freedom given?
The right to express.
The right to speech.
The right to hurt?
Intolerance that breeds terror?
What have uprisings spread
except hatred, angst and blood?
What has war ever sowed
except discord, loss and pain?
And yet,
we rise again and again celebrating—
celebrating Freedom, Victory, Independence?
Can there ever be —
Freedom to love, Victory over intolerance, hate and lust, Independence to give,
the Freedom just to be…
By Mitali Chakravarty is a writer and the founding editor of Borderless Journal
IF YOU LIKED THE POEM SUPPORT PEOPLE’S JOURNALISM
