Are we all prisoners of fate?
Are keys to freedom within reach?
Would you find liberty so great?
What might life’s lessons teach?

With hunger gnawing deep inside,  
Would prisoner choose bread?
With key to freedom in plain sight:
Is freedom what we dread?

If gates were open to the land,
Would you take wing and flee?
In fear of heights, how’d we ascend,
High on life’s sacred tree?

If key to open doors outright,
Is well within our reach,
Our yearnings and our appetite
Dictate the heights we breach.

So spread your wings, and shed fear’s freight,
Soar high, as soul can reach!
Let sun and moon, and winds of fate
Find gates that they can breach!

Are we all prisoners of fate?
Are keys to freedom within reach?
Would liberty to you feel great?
What might life’s lessons teach?

               Paul Pinkhasik, August 22, 2024

               illustrations from internet, and by DALL-E