
David Whitwell
Freedom
I was out of it the whole of May
spent most of my time sitting.
Not reading, not busy at all
just quietly by myself.
No, I would say, I’m not going out,
I won’t be joining you.
I rejoiced to out of hospital,
free and on my own.
Each day spring advancing
the garden coming to life.
I let the grass grow,
and without my cutting and fussing
wild flowers were springing up.
I said I would never complain
about anything ever again.
Of course it didn’t last,
this honeymoon with my life.
As my strength returned
I got back to the old routine,
leaving just an everyday kind of freedom,
I hardly notice at all.
But some of it lives on
in the wildness of the garden.