Freedom and knowledge are the same
Knowledge and freedom are also different
I am free to speak to you in my own name
I am free to worship God as heaven sent
But I have the privilege to remain silent
If that is what I prefer
Or deny commandments, and not repent
I can listen, but do not have to hear
Freedoms are not rights, but aspirations
To be earned, cherished, respected
For creatures great and small, and in nations
This mightiest privilege has to be protected
The absence of freedom is more profound
Than the existence of freedom already found
Knowledge of freedom that goes to ground
Haunts the soul more than ignorance unbound
The opposite of freedom may be an empty belly
The opposite of knowledge is a dictator’s charter
As chaotic politicians thrive on its distortion, like jelly
Truth is not something with which we barter
And where are we going with new found dreams
Knowledge is information, intelligence allows its use
But is it useful to know I have a mutation of genes
When there is no cure for the disease that will effuse
Will we, you and I, have freedom, when we are controlled
Not by our own knowledge but that of a machine
The internet of things, artificially told
Franschhoek wine trams governed in Beijing
Remember Thomas Gray’s ode on Eton College
Where ignorance is bliss, ‘Tis folly to be wise.
Franschhoek, South Africa January 2017
