The Joyful Chase

I have tried to be free
  On snippets of paper
absorbing the ink of words      which are my own
In the beating of my heart
which can feel small as a sparrow
and great as an ocean
                 from moment to day
and the things which make it beat fast
adrenaline, fear, exertion, exhilaration, possibility
crossing a finish line     or     watching a sunset     or     being kissed
        Those moments are briefly eternal
  and in them, so am I


I have tried to be free
    yet it feels like an illusive dream
buried sixty feet below bills and debts,
responsibilities and goals         which sometimes whisper
that they were set only for the task of 'measuring up'
          My soul is on my soles
not winged, but leaden
comparing itself
and coming up less than


I have tried to free others
tell them they are handsome and intelligent
      important and loved
yet unless I believe it of myself
I am a prisoner
telling a fellow innate
to ignore our mutual bars
           We made these cages
we allowed their enclosure
        Let us try to be free
oh yes
     let us try to believe it with all our beautiful beings
flinging ourselves forward into the spaces of freedom       so blissfully brilliant
in them
              we are briefly eternal
(a taste,
a spoonful of a feast,
of what is to one day come).