I do not frown because I know
That your dance of obedience
Is not your will.

Your conformity
Is merely a symptom
Of your fright.

Fear is the painful history
Which threatens your future.

Pain is only felt when
You are being beaten into submission
Or when you are fighting to be free.

I choose agony
Because I know that fighting
Is not the freedom or submission itself
But only the truth
Exposing the choice of my will
Beneath the wounds.

All wounds heal.
Even death is only a scar.

2006 by Hakeem Alexander