Freedom

Everything that existed, existed in a captured state. Animate of inanimate, everything wanted to be free.
That's what the lights said; that was their secret. Wild lights in the night skys, and domesticated lights right here on the street, they all told the same tale. It was so plain to see when you knew how to look. Didn't neon streetlights yearn to be starlight?
To be free.

-- From 'Dreams Underfoot' by Charles de Lint