Free.

van Gogh, The Gardener, 1889

You wanted greater things

But love forces all of us down

And sorrow bows us still harder.

They bend us back where we began.

Are there not in the hallowed night

Also right things?

Things that are straight and true?

So I learned.

For never, as mortal teachers do,

Have you, my deities,

Upholders of all things

Led me with caution

On level pathways.

The gods say to humans,

"Taste everything

And learn by that nourishment

To give thanks for all things

And know what it is to be free to quit

And go where you like.

Friedrich Hölderlin