We think we were born free.
But we are, each of us, caged,
by arbitrary borders.

Lines drawn in the sand and soil
by our families, our countries, our friends.
The walls we are building.
Tossing bricks, one by one
as we fall in line, and sit, on-line,
professing our patriotism
from behind barbed-worded fences,
and glorifying our globalism
from wide open spaces.
Exercising our inalienable right
to say what we think we feel,
what we’ve been told to feel,
within the confines of classrooms
run by other conditioned creatures,
using words that were written
by our founding fore-thinkers.
Taught, by our oppressors,
to believe we are limitless,
Bound only by our own thoughts…
which aren’t actually our own.
All the while wishing for the freedom
that we claim to have,
longing for a feeling we felt, once,
when we were young,
wanting to be as free as we
profess ourselves to be,
when in fact, we are bound.
Bound by arbitrary borders.

Shall we attempt to formulate an exit strategy?
One agreed upon by everyone
who would continue to cage us?
Or can we find a way to break free on our own?
To walk the wild, warm earth, wandering?
To feel the solid ground beneath our feet?
To smile and shake hands
with all of the unshackled Others?
To spend our time picking,
gathering, learning, loving, moving?
Nomadic? Itinerant? Free!?

There are too many of us to be free.
And there’s not enough of us.