Freedom

a poem by Devika

Life gets pigeon-holed
Into neat social compartments,
With appropriate labels for each activity-
A name for the birth,
The place, the belonging,
Seeking definitions:
Marital status, religion, a job-
Setting boundaries to Infinity-
A lifetime is spent
In seeking identity
For my transitory self-
I am searching a life
To merge with the One-
I am taught to belong;
To acquire, to attach;
To fear ostracism and shame;
To defend boundaries not of my making;
To fight causes not mine;
And instead,
I learn to let go-
I’m not a rebel,
That’s a compartment too-
Life needs no defiance to flow,
No apology to set itself right-
I forgive my life’s
Erratic directions;
I forgo my name,
My roots and my space-
And embrace the earth and the sky-
Why do you say
I’m a nobody now?
It’s now I’ve acquired a face-
Now I am a Universe…