July 2022
Joan Leotta
joanleotta@gmail.com
joanleotta@gmail.com
Bio Note: To me, freedom is about making choices and in helping children to learn to make good choices we train them up as I do the colt in the poem, because freedom does not last unless it is passed on.
Freedom
Eyeing me oh so warily, as I enter his pasture, a newborn brown colt skitters backward. He wears no tether, He is free. Slowly, I pull my hand from behind my back, revealing a red Empire apple, fresh from our nearby orchard. Balancing Empire lightly on open palm, I extend my hand. Colt sniffs its sweetness. Still wary, he shuffles toward me, gaze fixed on the prize. I remain motionless. His breath warms my palm. He snuffles, sniffles then, lips parted, teeth bared, grasps that apple in his teeth, chomps, swallows, nuzzles my shoulder. He wears no tether. The choice was his.
When I am free
to lift a cup of tea with you to talk about nothing important. When I can spend my mornings helping others, my afternoon daydreaming of what I can do next-- when we both can laugh as we lift that cup of tea, that’s when I am free.
©2022 Joan Leotta
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