Libertas

Footfalls pound mercilessly

O'er the fields, the bones, the stones

A train of tarnished trials

Ménages maligned, sans merci

Such costs, one must endure.

To behold blackened veins

Hidden in gory murals of red

Eternal strife, and what for?

Read between the scriptures

Again, a single word echoes

Gaging the widened gaps

Inside the hollow frame

Not again, will we bow low

Gone, the past's allure..

Several suns have passed thereof

Echoes still run deep

Again, shall freedom reap.

⚜

'What does freedom mean to you?' they asked.

Well, what could I have said?

I took a tasteless mint and brewed it thin

All novelty was boiled off with the excess 

They had a generic, robotic response

And they were content.

They ruminated over the formless thing,

Savouring familiarity.

"Freedom is in defiance,

                    In alliance.

           In war, In peace.

When we are the only ones 

That we have to appease.

When the stars we love 

            Are ours to see.

When no voice dictates when

           And where to be.

When the lords of our past are forced to flee.

Yes, I believe, I know what it is to be free."

In defiance, if I raise my voice, it is subdued,

In alliance, if I extend a hand, it is refused

In war, if I blow the horn, it ceases

In peace, I am to do as one pleases.

When I debate, I shall appease

A voice does dictate how to be

The lords resurrected with novel faces

Sing, I shall, to win their graces.

I am a slave yet again.

There is but a minute change

In the hands of those who fasten my chains.

⚜

Author's Note

The above poems are open to the viewer's interpretation.

And with 'Libertas', The Freethinker's Epiphany has officially completed 20 posts. 

When I started, I thought this would be a casual output of my literary work, but gradually, it became a necessity. 

With the weekly deadline, came a sense of enthusiasm, of entitlement, of panic (sometimes), and it has helped me maintain the habit of writing regularly.

If all goes according to plan, there are 20 more posts for 2021. 20 more opportunities.

Will I continue with the blog in 2022? Who knows..

All I know is, we are halfway through.

We'll make it halfway together.

An interesting fact I came across, while I was scavenging the internet for inspiration:

The word "martyr" comes originally from the ancient Greek legal term for "witness", for someone who gives testimony or evidence in a court of law. ... Martyrs invariably chose the private over the public, the sacred over the secular, and their suffering was considered an act of personal defiance.