“He wanted to free himself from his own image…In a strange way his freedom was achieved.”
–Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Once upon a midday bright
A gull landed on his rail in flight
Here he was outside his door
Perched on rail forevermore
As he woke from his long nap
Suddenly he heard a tap
A tap tap tapping on his lighthouse door
Only this an nothing more
Presently he rose to see
What this bird meant to be
As he opened up the lighthouse door
Perched the bird forevermore
What gives? He said to the gull
As he preens his wings to his skull
What words of wisdom for me to see?
Quoth the gull:
You are free
I am free? Whoop-ti-dee
Is that all you can say to me?
Did you traverse all this way
To tell me I am free today?
Tell me something I don’t know
Tell me something, say it slow
You woke me from my reverie
Quoth the gull:
You are free
Ye who sit upon the rail
Tell me this, do not fail
What brings you to this perch?
I think you know it’s not a church
It’s not a citadel as well
It is a lighthouse, you can tell
It gives a beacon for all to see
And now you tell me I am free
In this time of strife and storm
Will you tell me it’s the norm
To be unshackled, to be unchained
From troubles be unclaimed?
Oh ye who glide upon the sea
What is it you have to say to me?
Quoth the gull:
You are free
Free at last, free at last
Thank God almighty free at last
He had heard this somewhere is his past
Now he thought–not so fast
What did all this freedom mean
He wondered what meaning glean
From this gull’s pronouncements from the sea
Quoth the gull:
You are free
What use is freedom? he asked the bird
Is this theater of absurd?
Free to do what, he asked
Tell me now what to task
Tell me now, just you and me
Quoth the gull:
You are free
He gave up and closed the door
Wondered what was the message for?
As he looked outside, it was fitting
The messenger gull still is sitting
Still is sitting as if on a tree
And still is quoting:
You are free
Bad Randall 