Poem by El Jones

Her version of the 7 Steps to Freedom

 

There are lessons we've learned that we let ourselves forget:

Before we could walk, first we crawled and we crept

Once we accepted we could move forward

That's when we leapt

And when we could hold ourselves up

Then we reached a hand back to help

As Martin Luther King Jr Said

You don't have to see the whole staircase 

To take the first step. 

We don't have to see. Our belief will grant it

When we're down on our knees and don't think we can stand it

In the dark we feel we're alone and stranded

We've reached out before and come back empty handed

And it seems like too much that the world has demanded

Our mistakes seem too deep and we feel like we're branded

But please understand there are always second chances. 

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Sometimes it feels like we can barley chase success

Some days we taste the failures that sit heavy on our chest

But when it seems like the stress makes it hard to take a breath

The pain that we feel it can barley let us rest

Healing seems too far and we don't know what's next

But facing the truth about ourselves 

Is the very first step. 

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And maybe that truth can feel too frightening and ugly

We think if people saw the real me no one will love me

To cover it up maybe we've drunk or we've drugged

But we know the darkest things only grow when they're swept under the rug.

And when we see that truth

We know we have to change

Realizing there is a Power from which strength is gained

And when we use that power

We start breaking our chains

The second step is taken and five more remain. 

​

It's a journey inside, not a journey of the feet

And being unafraid to see is how we reach step three. 

Honesty of self is what we seek, 

Examining our strengths and finding where we are weak. 

Finding our weakness is nothing to be ashamed 

Because our weaknesses become strengths when we give them a name

Through concentrating on our strength we find the power to aid

And so we take the fourth step on the path we have laid. 

​

But let me say this: no journey is straight

Sometimes we find ourselves going backwards, or our courage might fade

Or our purpose gets swayed by the guilt or the hate

We despair and we wonder if maybe it's too late

That's when we reach out for help to place us back on the way. 

Because we know we were meant for this flight and ascent

We decide that our freedom is worth more than what we resent

And we don't let negativity live in our heads without rent

In step five we continue unbowed and unbent. 

​

From a place we were broken we make ourselves whole

You can call it will, mind, determination, spirit or soul

Every day we set freedom as an attainable goal

In step six we have grown and we know we're in control. 

When we move to new things there are stumbles and slips 

Progress isn't easy it never comes quick

And so many of our walls it's us who put in some bricks

But we know we can survive when we're taking those hits

Because there's no freedom for one until there's freedom for all

And somewhere in the dark there's someone else making that call

There's someone trying to stand who needs help not to fall

So in the seventh step, we reach back behind someone else's wall. 

​

There's walls made of metal and locks without keys

But in the mind and the heart is how we get free

And from the first step we took in faith before we could see

That journey bears fruit when our me turns to we

When we give to others we find the strength to be. 

We won't always be strong, we won't always be wise

Sometimes we shut down with our true self disguised

But from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs

When we journey together we know we all rise.