A bamboo cage a prison makes,
a bamboo screen, a door -
and iron shackles chain the body
to the wall or floor.
Bamboo can't chain the spirit
or destroy the human soul -
though there are times when loneliness
must take its private toll.
So what is Freedom to the man
who knows what it's about?
I think it's someone dear to him,
enough to eat,
and a door,
that opens
out.
CS 10/98
For Dieter Dengler and all the rest.
