It was a gift from the Gods to their people.

It was the gift that set them free.

It was a boon of love from the Gods above

when They gave us Liberty.

It cut us free from the chains and pains

of groveling servitude.

It gave us a voice when offered choice

and we praised it with gratitude.

But there’s a glitch to the switch to Freedom:

Heirs can’t be forced to accept!

They have the right to choose their life,

to refuse what freedom offers.

It’s a brave choice to raise your voice

against oppressive power,

but,

if there is no habit of resistance,

no yearning to be free,

none of freedoms joys will ever flower.

A people must be given the time they need

to drift slow changing tide,

to feel the ebb and rise,

to come to know the benefits

and the dangers of being free

and take them unto themselves,

in their own way and time.

There’s no ticking stop watch,

no racing to some urgent finish line.

There’s not even inevitability.

The time may never come or if it does,

the tide may turn against.

There is no optimum moment.

There is only the moment when.

And that moment must forever

be enough.

All we can hope for then.