Today I sit with my friend from
long ago and remember when she
broadened my world
through ritual and story; when we
drummed and howled
on many a solstice night as we
each held the past
in the palm of our hands
like a bird with a broken wing—
wounds visible, stories told,
honored, when still young.
Age evident on our lined faces
and altering bodies, we
acknowledge each other now:
honor what we each create; celebrate
what we each offer to the world.
The mended birds fly:
winds lift, support, and carry,
on currents to new horizons, with
a whisper heard; Be free.
“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level. It’s got to happen inside first.”
Jim Morrison
“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”
Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon
“Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.”
Jim Morrison