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Tom Miller is a voice over artist and poet. His work has been published in Ibbetson Street, Muddy River Poetry Review, Wilderness House Poetry Review and a number of other journals and anthologies. He frequently appears as the featured artist at various venues on Boston’s North Shore. He is a native of Ohio and currently lives in Ipswich, MA.

FREEDOM

Tom Miller
— Photo by Zvi Sesling

Freedom came to him in disguise.

He did not recognize it fully for several years.

And only gradually even then.

The sudden absence of burdens borne so long

left him weightless, adrift, uneasy…

without direction…                  irrelevant.

The structure he had imposed on his life was gone.

Partly by choice, partly by circumstance,

but none the less, gone.

He cast about almost aimlessly…

Almost anxiously…

Almost desperately…

For something to touch.

To lean on.

To lead him.

No reasons to greet the sunrise.

No far off bugle sounding charge.

No mountains to climb.

How to fill the day?

Passions, interests, even love

had all been buried so deeply

beneath the crush of necessity.

He did not know them.

Could not see them.

Was not sure they existed.

He struggled to find meaning to his existence.

Plummeted to depths he never thought he would.

Focused on how near the end of the road was

And not on the journey.

But the Spring rains came.

A friendly smile.

A gentle touch.

Words written long ago flowered

When shared with others

And brightened their days if even but a little.

And the gift of time was understood.

And the gift of sharing.

And the gift of just being.

A new garden was tilled

and planted with long forgotten seeds

fertilized with recognition and pleasure.

Adventures came calling in different dress

from odd places and directions,

not coherent nor leading to a unified end.

He was uncomfortable with them at first

feeling the sense of obligation trying to creep in.

But obligation to what…?        to what…?

Nothing really.

And so he seized them each in turn

and like spokes on a wheel inserted them

into the hub of his life

And let the wheel spin free.

— Tom Miller 

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To have your work considered for the Lyrical send it to:
Doug Holder, 25 School St.; Somerville, MA 02143
dougholder@post.harvard.edu