Birds have always appealed to her,
Especially owls, oh be sure.
Outcasts and demonized like her
She found that misfits can belong.
Happiness is a right, not a liberty.
She learned to speak her mind,
To speak her heart.
She learned that waves of sadness are just that,
They are just waves,
And soon enough they will fade.
She knows freedom is a penalty, a curse and a virtue.
Yet would sooner be cursed with freedom than ignorance any day.
You make a powerful distinction in those closing lines, between the knowledge that comes with freedom and the ignorance that comes with being sheltered. I have also found your lines about sadness coming in "waves" that pass quite true in life. That idea is a comfort to me.
ReplyDeleteHi, Amanda! This is such a powerful poem, especially the last the line, “Yet would sooner be cursed with freedom than ignorance any day.” Being free does sound like a better “curse” than ignorance. The last line of your poem directly contradicts the saying, “Ignorance is bliss,” which I think is lovely. Being ignorant of the things that go on around you does not blissful; it sounds like a curse. If one was free to do what they would like to do (knowing all of what was going on around them), I do understand how this could also be a curse. If a person were a prisoner, forced to look at the same four walls each day, ignorance would prevent a person from attempting to figure out a way to escape their prison. Freedom to think, and the freedom to feel, would fuel the desire to get out of their prison. This is a lovely poem, Amanda!
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