As summer unfolds
the scent of dusty roads
urges us to roam
the succulent fig
the crimson mulberry
overcome the mother’s call
to scurry back for dinner

Instead, we scatter
like sheaf thrown to the wind
and there is nobody but us
in this unraveling earth
for we are
ones of a kind

When winter comes
frost kisses with its lips
the sills of our windows
its curling fingers
grips the air without a touch

Then, we slouch back
and huddle like a flock
of penguins in the Antarctic
seeping heat one onto another
waddling in circles
flowing as a whole
a collective race

From without inwards
from within back out
we are
together, and apart

It is a common observation
That things are either bound or free
And this gives birth to misconceptions
On nature’s own duality

Just like a boulder in seclusion
An object tied is never loose
It has potential in profusion
Yet nothing stored is ever used

In contrast, like a cuckoo bird
An object loose is free to roam
With nothing owned, and all things shared
Yet nowhere to be called a home

But how the stable knows of freedom?
And of the joys of taking flight?
For in the well, where he is hidden
The skies seem dark in broad daylight

And how the liberated figures
To perch and quench on rushing spume?
Since from the heavens, even rivers
Are thinner than a feather’s plume

The trick is repetition thousands
And millions, and some billions more
Each item through the options browse and
Decides to settle, or to soar

Then from this binary decision
The choice is neither ridge nor flock
And one can say, with some conviction
All compromise the bird and rock

Take heart, and listen to this lesson
In life you often have to choose
‘tween earthly form and spirit essence
You gain, but on the same time lose

A man is bound by his possessions
A man with none, will starve for sure
To thrive, one must apply discretion
And choose which path to him allures

Lo, such is life, optimization
Of energy and entropy
You minimize their combination
In hope that this will set you free

The first step is the hardest
the second, harder still
    a steeper step, I follow through
    my world, it seems, is built askew
     my goal, to clime that hill

     Yet not all treads are equal
        some forward
    some reverse
    a trail is nowhere to be found
  its easier to turn around
the valley ground, a curse

But patience is a virtue
  persistence is a key
   surmounting mountains is a must
   when voices urge within each gust
   escape, and you go free

     Those winds, they carry forward
         and inching steps amass
      a lifetime spent inside a ditch
            and suddenly the trough is breached
                     I reach the top at last

                     But legs, they know just walking
                     not how to stand and cheer
                    inertia pull, and I comply
                    across, and to the other side
                 it’s all downhill from here