I don't want to be an object
of course, but human, a subject
not completely free perhaps

but also not in the hell
of other people's judgment
unless I would ignore

that I am a part of us
a part of human love
that falls short

a part of sometimes cruel
self-interest, short-sighted
by built-in blinkers

against my nervous fear
of the purgatory of the failures
of other people and myself

Whoever wants more freedom
and does leave the herd, will know
to be in hell right then