What Is Freedom? Poem by Namita Rani Panda

Have you ever asked a caged bird
who, instead of flying freely in the open sky,
looks through the bars a chunk of sky?

Have you ever asked a helpless hare
trapped in an inescapable snare
screaming for aid in the desolate air?

Have you ever asked a man
who's burdened with a mountain of depression
as his days are imprisoned in the dungeon of starvation?

Have you ever asked a maiden
whose dreams are shrunken
and her hands and feet are in chains of evil customs?

Have you ever asked the people of a nation
who have lost their freedom of expression
and dance like puppets as per the oppressors' dictation?

Freedom can better be explained by those who are deprived of
tasting the taste of freedom.