Freedom Strings
Freedom Strings
For weeks I’d practice
In the dark of night
Guilty of malpractice
Guilty out of spite
My fingers silently played
Not daring to make a sound
One more night I prayed
The Silencers all around
Performance day
Not significant now
Once a holiday
With lights as a show
I step into the square
Where a lone pole stands
Hurriedly I prepare
Before they bind my hands
Violin in place
I peel note one
Every face
To me spun
I played a song
Forbidden
But how could it be wrong?
Silencers wanted it hidden
Notes of stars & stripes
A banner spangled white
In past days stripped
From the pole to my right
People in the square
Open their mouths to sing
A battle they prepare
Let freedom ring
Though all tongues
Were cut
Sound produced by lungs
By Silencers can’t be shut
In time with violin
Wordless voices chimed
Silencers walked in
Not a voice dimmed
We all were taken
To the square’s other side
Goodness forsaken
A rope hung with pride
One by one
Singers fell
Leaving none
But me to tell