Freedom Poems
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:
......
Sunshine
by Vachel Lindsay
FOR A VERY LITTLE GIRL, NOT A YEAR OLD.
CATHARINE FRAZEE WAKEFIELD.
The sun gives not directly
The coal, the diamond crown;
Not in a special basket
Are these from Heaven let down.
The sun gives not directly
The plough, man's iron friend;
Not by a path or stairway
......
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;
......
Praise America
by Walter Komalik
Praise America - it is your land.
Praise with heart and soul.
Land where evil is not stand,-
Blessed freedom is its goal.
Love, as you do love your mother
Like the sparkling sun above
Keep it for your glory and for others
Warmly and sincerely love.
Let it dwells - blooms in your heart.
Hold it fast in joy and pain.
......
Testament
by Wendell Berry
And now to the Abyss I pass
Of that Unfathomable Grass...
1.
Dear relatives and friends, when my last breath
Grows large and free in air, don't call it death --
A word to enrich the undertaker and inspire
His surly art of imitating life; conspire
Against him. Say that my body cannot now
Be improved upon; it has no fault to show
......
The Harlot Of The East
by Md. Naeem Aziz
In the hour when daylight bled into rust,
I saw a young girl dragged through the dust.
Her eyes were rain, her face full of pain,
As humanity drowned in greed and shame.
Her father was helpless with fever and debt,
Coins were borrowed as time was the fate.
Then poverty sharpened its merciless blade,
A daughter's deal that made her a slave.
......
Wild One
by Evelyn Judy Buehler
Escaped to freedom
in fragrant, rose petaled bliss,
to feel sunshine's kiss!
Through the gap, rose climbed away.
Has my sweet rose gone to stay?
Daring, creeping Rose
in the pearl dripping moonlight;
by dawn, out of sight.
Glazed days and a better life
......
permission
by Rikske Kessner
I give myself permission
to want in the full shape of wanting,
to let hunger arrive as its own structure,
moving with a pace that forms itself as it goes,
brushing past Feldman’s long horizons,
catching a brief edge of Stravinsky’s angles
before finding its own timing.
......
This life is mine!
by Clare Harby
You may continue to clutch at control.
Know this!
Whatever you throw my way makes no difference.
I'm the happiest I've ever been;
thriving... literally flourishing!
I get to choose how I want to feel.
I get to choose what my peace feels like.
I get to choose who I let close.
......
Big Brother
by Lee-Ann Azzopardi
I am waiting on the subway platform
Looking at his ugly face
As the toxic slime melts
A hole between his eyes
He is everywhere
Staring at the people
With a Big Brother look
I wonder how we got this far
Without justice
With the loss of our rights
......
