The Truth About Tigers

To don a bright mask for the faithful to see
To placate the flock and pretend to believe
To drag the dead weight of unbroken chains
To laugh until laughter devours the pain

To plant the old flags and ring the new bells
To raise up the prices and see what still sells
To imagine that freedom is only a jest
To swallow your pride till it rots in your chest

To close all the windows and fasten the doors
To bury your secrets beneath the sea floor
To climb golden stairs till you stand at the top
To fall with the world when at last it all stops

To bolster your ego with glory and praise
To purchase a past with the fortune you’ve raised
To summon the fire and melt back the ice
To never look once at their sacrifice

To turn up the volume and smother the cries
To vanish in madness and cover your eyes
To cut out your tongue to spite your own face
To put profit above the whole human race

To pull out your hair and to tear at the walls
To pave over gardens and silence the calls
To load up the cannons, the weapons of war
To never once ask who the cages are for

To dream of the faces you’ve lost all at once
To wake with their shadows and feel their cold touch
To walk through the mirror and linger a while
To shine your dark shoes and lie with a smile

To pin every failure on somebody else
To go to your grave deceiving yourself
To polish a crown and call yourself king
To scream for the stillness your riches won’t bring

To weep late at night in a bed all alone
Your palace of pleasure turned prison of stone
Surrounded by ghosts who won’t let you be
You’ll ask yourself why
you still don’t feel free

A slightly different version ofd Feel Free was first published at The New Verse News.

This poem was sparked by Jeff Tweedy’s new song, also called “Feel Free.” The shared title is obviously intentional, though the poem follows its own path. If you’re into poetry and haven’t spent time with Wilco or Tweedy, I’d recommend it. I think his lyrics have that same mix of plainspoken clarity and odd, dreamlike turns, lines that stick in your head and keep unfolding, much like in certain poems… maybe closer to William Carlos Williams or Frank O’Hara than anything polished for radio. He makes everyday language feel strange, and alive.

Feel free
Get yourself born in the USA
Love with a love they can’t take away
Feel free