Free to be We
What would you like to be when you are old like me?
When I am old like you, I would like to be me.
And who is that me you would like to be?
I would like to be the me that is completely free.
And what does it mean to be the me that is free?
The me that is free is the me that can see
Through the false stories told by society;
The me that can be what it wants to be
And does not feel the burden of responsibility.
And what will you do when you are completely free,
Liberated from the stories and responsibility?
I will travel by sea to Sicily
And climb to the top of every tree
And love every moment wholeheartedly
And do only things that bring me glee.
And what will you do when apathy supplants glee?
And the free to be me grows bored and lonely?
I will find some friends that are free like me
And we will build a community
And the only decree will be that all are free
To be whoever they would like to be.
And what if your free and my free disagree?
Then I will form a committee to oversee
That the free to be me works well for the we.
But will you be free if you attend to the we?
That’s starting to sound like responsibility.
I suppose I would give up some of my free
If it means that all are free to be we.
Now, my child, you are starting to see
That the free to be me feels no glee without we;
Without loyalty to a community
And a legacy that will continue to be
After the ephemeral me has left its body.
For without the we, the me ceases to be
Erased by time and history.
The me finds eternity in the we.
And in that eternity, its reason to be.
So tell me, what would you like to be?
