bastille day

roses by august renoir

don't you love it

when a new birdsong appears

in the neighborhood

or when the crows act

all high and mighty

once the osprey have left

taking back their territory

don't you feel then

that you could brave anything

life might throw at you

i'm going out into that

blazing sun of noontide

joining with a throng

who love a francophonic world

if i can't walk

there will be a wheelchair

and if i can't talk

there will be music and food

there truly is nothing to fear

because i am not this body

i cannot be subjugated

by pain and loss

only made sun hot

melting away the locks

that kept me hidden

desperate and miserable

year after lonely year

i'm through with

malady and despair

or perhaps they are though

with me for a season

and when i say "through"

i mean only "liberated"

and when i say "liberated"

i mean "attempting it"

because the sun is shining

and my birthplace is joy

i am nothing without

the minute to minute revolutions

breaking out in the streets

of my consciousness

rebellion and surrender

go hand in hand

like a birdsong

never before heard

or the crazy love dance

of sparrows on thin branches

life is a drive to create

and it never stops maddening us

until we participate

until we dive 

head long into the ecstatic

break a leg in the grand theater

and don't hold anything back

i dove into malady and despair

and i don't regret it

you cannot regret that

which brings into consciousness

the reasons you were born