freedom is a perspective.

The lone dog in the woods,
it is not free.
Born without collar,
     without chain,
it wanders in the fields
it eats its own kill
living by the instincts
its mother'd left it
in cold, bleeding birth.
Not a master, not a slave
it knows not punishment, nor
dog-biscuit reward -
there is not couch
it must not chew on.
It is a canine wild,
unbounded by domestication,
yet,
not feral
because born without collar,
     without chain,
the lone dog in the woods
     is not free.
The lone dog in the woods
just is.