Have you ever been in prison, my brother
Where shackles held you tight
And every move you’d make was denied?
Where even the breathing seemed harder
And joy was a friend who seldom appeared?

Then, have you ever been set free, my sister
Where chains no longer bind
And your heart sings to a rhapsody of music?
Where your soul takes flight
And dares to dream of once-forgotten dreams?

Have you ever been set free, my friend
So love flows to those who misunderstand
And even sorrow cannot engulf joy?
Where excitement for life comes at any age
And problems are opportunities to be solved?

Many kinds of prisons fill the world today
And only the obvious show their bars and shackles:
Disease and limitations of the body
Circumstances one cannot change –
All claim thick, unseen walls.

But the worst prison by far is one
That shackles the mind and the spirit of man
That causes him to dread the next day
To forget past ambitions
To look, unseeing, at a beautiful world.

Whatever the shackles that bind you
And truly they are all real
Seek God’s way to undo them.
Come, let your soul fly away with mine
Spreading our wings to limitless possibilities.