POEMS ABOUT FREEDOM ....

The Torch of Freedom

When I became convinced that the Universe is

natural - that all the ghosts and gods are myths,

there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every

drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of

freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell,

the dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts

and bars, and manacles became dust. I was no longer a

servant, a serf or a slave. There was for me no master

in all the world - not even in infinite space. I was free

- free to think, to express my thoughts - free to live to

my own ideal - free to live for myself and those I

loved - free to use all my faculties, all my senses -

free to spread imagination's wings - free to investigate,

to guess and dream and hope - free to judge and

determine for myself - free to reject all ignorant and

cruel creeds, all the "inspired" books that savages have

produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past -

free from popes and priests - from all the "called"

and "set apart" - free from sanctified mistakes and

holy lies - free from the fear of eternal pain - free

from the winged monsters of the night - free from

devils, ghosts and gods. For the first time I was free.

There were no prohibited places in all the realms of

thought - no air, no space, where fancy could not

spread her painted wings - no chains for my limbs - no

lashes for my back - no fires for my flesh - no

master's frown or threat - no following another's steps -

no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying

words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly,

joyously, faced all worlds. And then my heart was

filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out

in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave their

lives for the liberty of hand and brain - for the

freedom of labour and thought - to those who fell on

the fierce fields of war, to those who died in dungeons

bound with chains - to those who proudly mounted

scaffold's stairs - to those whose bones were crushed,

whose flesh was scarred and torn - to those by fire

consumed - to all the wise, the good, the brave of

every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given

freedom to all humans. And then I vowed to grasp the

torch that they had held, and hold it high, that light

might conquer darkness still.

Robert Green Ingersoll