To My Dear, Freedom Poem by Delilah Miller

To my most dear and prized possession, freedom. I've given everything to be free and I don't regret it.

In the beginning, I felt I had failed,
(crying into crumpled papers and thrown-out wedding rice)
'Pull my leg,
grab my hand,
or squeeze me.
Just tell me I'm stuck like a peg;
you wouldn't be wrong.'
Lovingly, I stole glances like I could've been jailed.
'Get my attention;
I'm eager to pay it all to you.'
Wanting to paint you up a song,
I got mixed up with pride and pretension.
And I found falling free,
found you, tucked away so privately
deep in me, like melody in a lark.
Just when I sat in an ash pile the phoenix tried and failed,
you burnt me up so I'd glow in the dark.
The price of everything paid to you, a laughable fee
for the most sacred and eternal engine.