Since childhood, we have experienced certain incidents which get embedded in our mind as deep pain.

As a defense mechanism to this, we set certain habits/patterns to become our character and to avoid being vulnerable, which only worsens the hurt inside our heart. We need to have the courage, to recognize these patterns and break free from the scar which has healed long ago but remains as a reminder, and which causes us to unknowingly invite the same reactions again and again.

We, like the elephant, are tied to our past which continues to pull us back into the whirlpool from which we desperately try to escape.

In this poem, the elephant, though freed, still feels himself tied to the stump. Once we attain freedom from our own patterns and become our authentic selves, change happens and we grow in a healthy and happy way.

The elephant: huge and majestic,

symbol of wisdom and strength,

stands tied to a rope.

Since childhood it has

not moved an inch,

from the stump where it is tied,

the thought of breaking it,

never crossed its intelligent mind.

Alas! poor thing feels chained,

free, yet the bondage bears on,

when young tried running away,

but the rope refused to budge,

cutting deep gashes in its foot.

Now, the wound has healed,

but the captivity in mind,

is too strong, and the fear

of a false belief not existing;

still holds him where it was,

the creature stands still

magnificent as ever….

 

Author: Ankita Siddiqui

Editor: Emma Ruffin

Photo: Pixoto