Ditty - Vijaya Sundaram

Freedom Tracks — A Ditty (Poetry, Day 5)

Dec 10, 2015 Uncategorized

Freedom Tracks

©December 10th, 2015

By Vijaya Sundaram

See those children skipping rope.

They chant and sing and dream and hope

Playing hopscotch, playing tag

Their minutes stretch, but never drag.

See those dancers, see them swirl

Full of tight control, they whirl.

Gravity is just a word

Freedom is a song not heard,

But felt, in bones that stretch and bend

They dance through lives that have no end.

You toss your clothes, and plunge into

The foaming brine lunging at you,

You lose your fear, you lose your shame

And freedom is your middle name.

And when you find you’re mocked and scorned,

And wish you never had been born,

You drown in sadness for a while,

Then think “This gloom is not my style.

I’d rather read or sing a song,

Think nothing as I walk along.

I’m free! is what I think of me

And enjoy what I’ve come to be.”

You make your choices, moral ones

And answer none under the sun,

You live with love and joy and peace

From rage and hate you find release.*

That’s freedom too, my listening friends

(Though there are fences we might mend.)

When lost and all alone, you find

That time and maps are left behind,

You doff your fears, and make a track

With dog in front, and wind at back,

That’s freedom, darlings, this I know —

I hope to see you where I go.

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P.S. *Instead of that line, I first wrote, “But rage at Donald Trump’s hairpiece.” I couldn’t help it — I needed to write it. However, in the interests of Poesy, I had to change it.
Then, I showed it to my daughter, who instantly endorsed it, so I kept it for ten minutes longer, before I changed it.

P.P.S. I wanted to write a ditty, instead of a deep, winding, complicated, surreal piece, for a change.

Tags: #Original Poetry, #Writing 101, Poetry, Day 5, Ditty, Freedow