Enslaved

I was enslaved not by external forces
But I enslaved myself, with force of will
I wanted things to be other than they were
I denied reality
And I saw myself as smaller than I am
I didn't see my own possibilities
I didn't hear the song all around me
And I didn't feel the dance of all creation -
  the constant, ever-changing dance
I imprisoned myself in a fantasy of yesterday
And I was my own terrible taskmaster,
  my own fearmonger,
  my own tyrant

I seek the liberation of all beings
I seek my own liberation, in this moment -
and I am astonished
at how I cling to the shackles,
like a familiar comfort -
and how, in fact, I didn't see the shackles,
  did not realize the din of my own fantasy
and how it kept me from living free

May I listen, watch, feel
May I be in the dance of each moment
  Surrender to it, and give myself to it
May I express my gratitude through acts of creation -
  of the body, by the body, for the body - and
May I leave my self-imposed prison
  forever in this lifetime

A'ho Mitake Oyasin
I celebrate, and for all my relations