"Dear..."

 

You have addressed me many times as "A Free Soul." Every time, I was about to tell you that you don’t know how caged I was before attaining freedom and that each of us has a long journey of enduring distasteful imprisonment. We lived within it without question, unaware of the reasons behind it. Then, all of a sudden, one day, we realise we are caged. This realisation transports us to all the moments of ignorance.

My dear, being free demands the courage to confront dilemmas and to shatter the shackles that have become akin to immortality. How often does the habitual self surface with a negotiation—but the realisation is so profound that it prompts questions about existence.

My free soul never wishes for anything around me to feel caged. The freedom I possess should not dictate the freedom of others, nor should it mock the imprisoned souls of others. Once this free soul had unfurled its feathers in your world, my dear. You attempted to curtail it. You were envious of my free spirit. You were mistaken, my dear; I was no longer willing to endure that abandoned, distasteful imprisonment. I let you go—to wander as a free soul or to wonder at my free spirit.

~Aamna