I used to think that Freedom
Was what someone gave to me.
Until I found that I was bound
By nameless heavy chains
I could not see.
I used to think that Freedom
Was what someone gave to me.
Until I learned that what I'd earned
Was simply my permission
To use that very freedom
That no one but myself
Could give to me.
Those locks and bonds and prisons
Are the things we've learned to hate.
Yet those most despised constructions
Are identically the ones
We have masterfully come to create.
I spent my lifetime waiting
For someone to set me free,
I could not grow
I didn't know
That in my very hands
I held The key.
- Dr Shirley Kashoff
