Freedom Strings

Freedom Strings

By C.L.Haws

For weeks I’d practice

In the dark of night

Guilty of malpractice

Guilty out of spite

My fingers silently played

Not daring to make a sound

One more night I prayed

The Silencers all around

Performance day

Not significant now

Once a holiday

With lights as a show

I step into the square

Where a lone pole stands

Hurriedly I prepare

Before they bind my hands

Violin in place

I peel note one

Every face

To me spun

I played a song

Forbidden

But how could it be wrong?

Silencers wanted it hidden

Notes of stars & stripes

A banner spangled white

In past days stripped

From the pole to my right

People in the square

Open their mouths to sing

A battle they prepare

Let freedom ring

Though all tongues

Were cut

Sound produced by lungs

By Silencers can’t be shut

In time with violin

Wordless voices chimed

Silencers walked in

Not a voice dimmed

We all were taken

To the square’s other side

Goodness forsaken

A rope hung with pride

One by one

Singers fell

Leaving none

But me to tell