Freedom Poems
Song Of The Open Road
by Walt Whitman
AFOOT and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune--I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road.
The earth--that is sufficient;
I do not want the constellations any nearer;
......
London, 1802
by William Wordsworth
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour;
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
......
A Newspaper Is A Collection Of Half-Injustices
by Stephen Crane
A newspaper is a collection of half-injustices
Which, bawled by boys from mile to mile,
Spreads its curious opinion
To a million merciful and sneering men,
While families cuddle the joys of the fireside
When spurred by tale of dire lone agony.
A newspaper is a court
Where every one is kindly and unfairly tried
By a squalor of honest men.
......
Let America Be America Again
by Langston Hughes
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
......
Democracy
by Langston Hughes
Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.
I have as much right
As the other fellow has
To stand
On my two feet
And own the land.
......
Jouw vrijheid is mijn vrijheid
by Mario Odekerken
Jouw stem mag klinken,
zoals de wind kiest waar hij waait.
Als jij beweegt,
maak je ruimte voor mij.
In jouw openheid
vindt ik mijn eigen weg.
Make me free
by Jupiters Angel
Make me free
from the horrors and so called spoils of human war
for to linger to lead to a chore.
My feelings flounder on an island beach
thus haunted words out of reach
soon to beat visions about to breach.
Let hearts be broken
sentences made of tokens.
Let me escape to what is forbidden to see
the wave of the clouds already out to sea.
......
In the nest of the night
by Mario Odekerken
Shadows curl
around thoughts
that seek no daylight.
Silence cradles
what remained unspoken.
There
the heart finds
its wings
......
bucket list of taboo truths
by atef ayadi
she,
hard work doesn’t lead to wealth; capital does.
democracy is a managed spectacle.
your attention is the real product, not your labor.
most ‘freedom’ is just choosing between pre-approved options.
the system needs your belief to function. stop believing, and it starves.
why do we accept that 1% own half the world?
what would happen if we all stopped playing?
why people resist being told, but they trust their own conclusions.
why why?
......
Freedom
by Mario Odekerken
Freedom is not a bird that can fly away,
but the nest that brings comfort.
It is not the absence of walls,
but the presence of open doors.
It does not scream with fire,
it hums quietly in a morning breeze.
You do not chase it across the sky,
you sit with it,
and it stays.
......
