A Prisoner Set Free

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A Prisoner of Conscientious Set Free

But the question: is he or she really?

Yes, She or he has broke free,

Confinement the body shall no more worry.

But is he or she really free,

In the absolute sense the concept does carry?

I stuck up a friendship with one

Who spent most of his active life in prison.

One day I said to him,

“It is a glorious day

Touched by gentle breezes

Illuminated by bright sun’s ray

Azure - clear blue, has gone the sky.”

“Gentle breeze you may feel the air

Blue sky one may enjoy with the rest

And yet I saw none of it.

All day long I am locked in

A memory cabin,

Dogged with plight and pain.”

Further he replied, “You! My friend said

Glorious day, which may be

Followed by a peaceful night,

Pitch dark spotted with twinkling satellites

Generating soothing effect in the mind

Moving creatures, them all coming to complete rest.

However, there was one soul you forgot

That all these, I will have none of it.

Indeed I am desperately running West and East

Across the Planet, up and down,

The entire Longitude

You may not and indeed be aware,

By Seventy-two headed monster pursued

Till I wake up terrified,

Covered in sweat and exhausted.

You! My friend also said

When summer comes

The year before which is now over

The sun could be seen

Like a giant orange,

Organ albeit a little bit far-fetched,

But orange all the same.

Beautiful days full of warmth

You and the likes will stroll light clothed

Till mid-night shops closed.

However, do not forget

I will be locked in day and night,

In an invisible dungeon,

Inside my own thoughts,

Cold and shivering to death.

Winter comes along

The rain and the snow,

Purged all the dirt

From the gutter and the road

Except it left me so cold

And my system horrific memories logged and clogged

Depriving the brain - blood

In sufficient flow.

And now, you said my friend

The people have matured of age

Everything has changed

Growing up they have managed,

This time round, they have learnt they lessons

They have turned democrats,

And elected a president.

Not believing what I have heard,

I decided to go out,

Following the crowd

To watch the inauguration of the President-elect.

When I saw the man in front

He turned out to be

The narcissist, sycophant and hypocrite

Who acted as a scout?

To the old order’s regiment,

Innocent victims to eliminate

In a broad daylight.

At this point, my illness turned acute

I became desperate,

Nightmares became so frequent

Not only at obvious moments

But days became unsafe and unpleasant.

I will go back to bed

Do not wake me up,

I will hibernate,

Until the new seeds germinate.”

Copyright Haileselassie Girmay

4/3/2002