hung from the tree

He hung on the tree,
He hung once more,
On the ancient Ash
A Lethe later,

He was granted
Insight a second time,
And beheld
The meaning of his life —

The light of a mission that
Burst like an arrow
Through the gray fog
Into his existence...

From this act
The consequences were
Irreversible
And final,

He was powerless
To roll back
To old habits,
Outlived foundations,

He could not see —
Fears got in the way,
That on a subconscious level
Had been there until then,

He felt in his bones —
Abandoning habits
Was akin to death
And there was no use in it —

He felt that way,
But in reality
The benefit was immense
In this process.

And that night he died,
The one who hung on the tree,
From now on it is not him
Who lives in this body —

A new one now,
Reborn —
And he crashed from the tree,
Consecrated by fire.

That act
Had consequences —
He became doomed
From then on and forever

Day and night
To walk in the direction
Of his own mission
Without a step to the side —

Only forward
And there was no choice,
No strength
To resist the new,

No strength
To uphold the old —
It became garbage
In an instant...

The only choice
He had at that time —
To be struck down
Or to be free,

Freedom from now on —
Is not permissiveness,
Narrow now
Are the boundaries of freedom,

If he stops,
He will be crushed
By an avalanche of poison
From his own jaws...

He is commanded
To unlock his potential,
To be impeccable
Inside the corridor,

So as not to perish
And not to stumble,
Not to be struck down
By the stream of poison,

Farewell, habits,
Farewell, crutches,
Long live the mission!
Hail, gods!

What to do now,
Being sober?
Turn everything back?
Step into the unknown?

It wasn't this that scared him,
Something else scared him —
The loss of himself,
Of familiar foundations,

Of false stability,
And of possessing
That which in fact
Is not yours,

Fixation on the Self —
That is the danger,
The stronger the flow,
The more the ego hurts,

To take off this harness,
The command to survive
Dictated firmly —
He did not crave rewards,

He hung on the tree,
On the ancient Ash,
And, having sobered up,
Crashed to the ground...

Arthur O'Harra.