The Poet Magister - Chapter 6
On Freedom Of Expression
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As afternoon waves broke over the golden sands by the Sea Of Awareness, the People of Ocean Village came down to meet the Poet, Magister Thepoien, with great sadness in their hearts.
It was official. By order of the magistrate their freedom to think and speak, and feel and gather in the village square would be no more.
Truth telling would be criminal, words would be a crime. It was the law now.
Dark clouds were gathering and the hopes and dreams of The Kingdom were retreating, when the village healer, a woman who was wise in the ways of nature, spoke for The People, saying:
“Magister. You once said, the Voice Of Freedom is God within us, speaking.
You said: Any word spoken in the name of truth and kindness is the breath of life, echoing the sacred and the divine;
You said: Speak your mind and conscience, freely; believe or not believe as your heart commands, freely; hold your tongue in quiet prayer, or look and question and write and draw and share your findings, freely;
For words have wings, and wings are the way to truth, and truth alone is the only way to freedom.
You said: Gather together in peace, and join hands with each other for shared causes, and assemble freely; petition passionately and voice the needs of The People to kings and queens and leaders, freely;
For these are the ways of healing.
You said: Speak your true mind, and listen honestly; hold your head high saying, "I am. I do exist. I feel. I love and dream; and thus, I stake my claim to
the Kingdom Of Life, and my every Right in it."
For the Spirit Of Freedom is all that stands on guard, at the crossroad to heaven and hell; and therein, is the true story of angels and demons, you said:
Good and evil
Are not a mystery
An angel brings love
To your table
A demon brings chains
To bind your lips and heart
And we listened to your wisdom, sung your songs and poetic verses, the healer recalled. We shared their beauty among us in times of joyous celebration, and by our firesides in spirited discussions.
But today, dark shadows loom over us. A brother here, a sister there, and then 10 more here and there are accused, and left suffering behind steel bars. Now mornings are filled with longing and our nights linger with deep concerns.
*****
The healer lowered her head then, and the caring father of a new-born child named Scarlett, rose up asking Magister. "Do you feel the cold winds of injustice blowing over the land?"
"What will come of my daughter's future?"
And the Poet gazed upon the child's eternal smile, and he answered the father's question with a question, asking: What happens to every child's future;
When her village is at risk of becoming an unmarked graveyard;
Where thoughts and words and dreams are buried, beneath the sands of censorship, punishment and fear;
Where it is forbidden to express agreement and disagreement, emotions and feelings;
Where brilliant minds, artists, merchants, healers, men and women of the cloth, friends and family are hunted and condemned, for a few honest words spoken, or an honest question asked;
Where in her silence and her sorrows she sees the lights of wisdom dimming;
Where she hears the voices of truth fading into shadows?
I tell you, mothers and fathers all: Every child's future has always rested in the sensitive balance between action and inaction, now or never.
The time to claim every sweet Scarlett's God-given freedoms is always NOW; never tomorrow, Now this precious moment, Now this instant in time, Now while her freedoms can still be forged with love and fire into a better future. The Poet said.
*****
Only then did an old wounded soldier, who had given body and soul defending Life and Liberty come to Magister, with his tears in hand, saying:
It was you who said: I am, you are, we are the Spirit Of Freedom, who like the mighty eagle lives to soar, above the mud and filth below - above the unholy, to the mountain top of freedom on high;
You said, beware of the beast who hunts the songbird;
Beware of merchants selling gold cages, barring the mighty eagle’s ascent into heavenly skies;
Beware. For they prey on your beauty, and poetry in motion;
They would enslave you, children of the universe, inhabitants of earth and sky; Beware!
For they do not hear you; do not see or feel your suffering; they are blinded by their deeds; they have forgotten the great truths:
One can
Cage a body
But the spirit knows
No bounds
One can
Silence a heart
Silence the breath
For a time
But sure as
Dawn follows midnight
The eagle will find a new sky
And a way to soar
Once more
You said, never surrender your wings for the promise of safety in a cave below. For, of what value is a life lived in the valley of slaves, silenced and caged like a beast of burden?
You said: Earth, sky, moon, stars, and the heavens in all their glory belong to no one, and to everyone who beholds them.
And it is by this one measure that you may judge the wiseman and the fool, the just leader and the tyrant, you said.
The old soldier made his way through to the front of the gathering, weak and fragile as he was. "I stand ready to defend my brother's and sister's once again." The old soldier proclaimed, loudly, so all The People might hear.
"The Spirit Of Freedom is all that stands on guard at the crossroad between heaven and hell." He said. And The People were moved by his courage.
*****
The People made way then, so Magister could walk among them. He moved from family to family, young and old, touching hands and faces, lovingly as he went. He waived an open hand, and they in turn formed a circle around him, in the sand by the sea.
This circle will reveal the truth, and the future of your freedoms, he said.
A circle has no end, no beginning, it is infinite in design; and so, it offers every freedom you desire, and every prison you fear.
The moment you agree, if you agree, the circle becomes a cage that holds its prisoner, firmly within. A circle made of hardened steel, or the circle made of ideas and lies are one in the same. Both are prisons, no less.
Yet, the moment you agree, the moment you command it, it becomes a circle of love - an end to all that has come before, an infinite design, with wide-open spaces, a new beginning to what will be, inviting the mighty Spirit Of Freedom to soar again.
And I tell you friends
You are that mighty spirit
Who like the eagle
Longs to fly
High above fear and punishment
Far beyond pain and suffering
To the peaks of love and
Greater understanding
Magister turned his eyes toward home, then hesitated a moment, gazing over the Sea Of Awareness to the future beyond.
Now is the beginning of 10,000 tomorrows, the Poet said;
You alone and you as The People Of Life;
You the rightful owners of the forests;
You rightful heirs to oceans, lands and skies above;
You who bring creativity and beauty to Life
Rejoicing in the abundance and joy of others;
You with the burden to defend each other;
You who remember the spirit is indestructible;
You who find courage and resolve
In the sweet words of dreamers
You will decide what kind of circle
What kind of future was formed
And agreed upon this hour;
You will choose and speak your words;
And your voice will be counted
And all The Good People
And all generations to come
Will hear you say:
I AM A CAPTIVE, or I AM A FREE BEING
And the circle you create
Will expand without limits
And the words you speak
Will travel through walls
And metal and stone
With the force of
An eternal wind
Over lands and seas
Into hearts and minds
Of soul after soul
Your message will go
For the circle
And the word
Together as one
Are more powerful
Than mere flesh
And bone
They begin with SELF
And point the way
To INFINITY
So, let this hour be our day of remembering, the Poet Magister said. The quest for Freedom is truly the God within us, inviting us to rejoice in the beauty and wonders of UNDERSTANDING each other.
And just as the mighty eagle does not ask permission from the wind to fly, so you require no consent from anyone born of the flesh, or any self-appointed ruler of the skies, to spread your wings, and soar into the heavens.
*****
Excerpt from:
The Poet MAGISTER
"A Gift Book about life & living"
Words & Illustrations
by, E. Laurence Bake
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