The Chains of Freedom

There are those which toss the word about

As if it were the newest toy in the box

There are some which drag it through the mud

There are others which place it on a pedestal

Exalted but out of reach for others

Look at the word itself, ‘Freedom’

It is a compound word

‘Free’ and ’dom’ 

Free, from Germanic ‘freo’ 

From an Indo-European root

Meaning, ‘to love

Dom, meaning ‘dominion’

Compounded to mean

To be constrained by love

No man is free

Which cannot love others

If love is the fuel of freedom

Then hatred is the fuel of bondage

One cannot place restraints

On the love of others

Without diminishing 

Their own love

One cannot place constraints

On the freedom of others

Without placing chains

On their own freedom 

No one is truly and wholly free

Until we all are conjoined

In the cause of freedom

For one, for all

When we learn to love

All men and women freely

In the kingdom of love

We will all be free

We are bound by love

We are bound by freedom

The burden of love 

The chains of freedom 

© Ron Simpson Jr. 

May 25, 2020