Chain around his neck,
he dances,
happy to be dancing,
happy when dancing,
happy only when dancing.
They make him dance to their music,
only their music,
for their enjoyment,
when and where they pay.
But when the dancing ends,
then he feels the chain
and then he wonders about freedom,
and then he feels such loneliness,
and then he knows fear and its cousin anger,
and then he feels sad.
He asks his master,
"Is there dancing without the chain?
Do the bears in the woods dance?"
And the master looks to the woods
(away from the village),
and the bear thinks maybe the master
yearns for something out there
beyond the village,
somewhere in the woods.
And so they sit for an hour or so,
both staring into the woods,
the master wistful,
and the bear gently pawing
the chain around his neck.
(5/1/85)
Text and image © 2022 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.
Have you ordered your copy of Contemplative Vision: Photography as a Spiritual Practice?
Follow this link: https://www.churchpublishing.org/contemplativevision