Imagine

Imagine how it would feel not to be free
To live as a slave without hope of being free

Imagine not being able to say what you wanted to say.
To have to do whatever someone else told you to do day after day

How would it feel to live within someone else's boundaries,
Forced to live a vision you could not see.

If you had to keep your emotions locked inside,
Would you be able to live with pride?

If your life was censored by another man
Would you still have a purpose and a plan?

If  you were told not to dream,
Would you still believe in the impossible dream?

We complain about things as they may be,
But we never had to live that history.

Every freedom we have today was paid for with a price.
That price was someone else's life.

All I ask is that you consider the sacrifice.
Consider the price

There is a gift that is ours to claim
If we fail to claim it, no one else is the blame.

We can dream
Our wildest dreams,

Soar as high
As we're willing to fly

To forfeit that opportunity
Is to deny our right to be free.

Never forgot those who died that we might be free
Never stop thanking them for that opportunity

It is because of them we can live the dream
Never forget what that means.

copyright 2008 by P. Newman-Harris