We are so long accustomed to authority
It is difficult for us to understand personal responsibility
We think freedom means no law
So we ignore the laws of compassion

We are like the child in that first moment
When the parents have left the room
We test the perimeters of our moment of freedom
But we take it with desperation
Knowing that we will be scolded or beaten
When Mommy or Daddy comes back into the room
To find what we have done

They have not allowed us the personal experience
Of burning our fingers on the hot oven
Or falling down and getting up to try again
We believe that life is dictated by someone
Bigger and wiser than ourselves

We cannot sit alone quiet for one moment
To face ourselves
Our minds have been imprisoned by authoritarian control
Which never gives the chance to see ones own spirit

We feel our spirits languishing in our hearts
But our parents have taught us that it is evil
We struggle with the need to bring it alive
Sometimes we come close on holidays
But Mommy and Daddy always come back into the room
To shame us back into order

Then finally on one of our holidays
We decide the only way to freedom
Is to leave home forever