PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

Cancer is an ugly disease…not only for the life it takes

But for all the sorrow and sadness…left floating in its wake….

Although I did not know her personally I’ve kept abreast of cases she has tried

which is why I was saddened yesterday when I heard that she had died.

But what finally caused my tears to flow…what opened my floodgate

was, amidst the many tributes to her, were the messages of hate.

The more I read the sadder I felt until soon I was feeling numb

as my heart filled up with sorrow at the country we’ve become.

Cancer comes in many forms causing families sadness, sorrow and strife

progressing slowly through the body until it finally takes a life.

Hate is a form of cancer…I wish people would understand

How it’s metastasizing quickly…as it spreads across the land.

Two forms of cancer make me sad today…

The first that took this woman I am thinking of…

and the second that is slowly killing

this country that I love.

We call ourselves the United States of America but that name seems a bit short-sighted

Yes, it’s true, we are made up of 50 states…but we are anything but united.

It seems we can’t agree on anything anymore…too much misinformation…too many lies.

We have forgotten how to listen to one another…forgotten how to compromise.

The founders of our constitution, knowing they didn’t all agree, wrote into their plan

not that we would be a perfect union…but the most perfect union that we can.

Case in point: 

When they wrote and signed the constitution there was not one woman in the crowd.

Women running our government?  Well, that just could not be allowed!

It appears that what women had to say back then…didn’t matter very much.

I wonder what our country would be like if the constitution had a woman’s touch?

Another case in point:

Thomas Jefferson and George Washington who helped the flag of freedom wave,

who agreed that all men are created equal…each of them owned slaves.

These two founding fathers…who strived to make our country strong

did not understand back then…that owning another person could be wrong!

Still our founding fathers understood that government is a give and take exchange…

that our constitution needs to be altered…as our country…as we the people change,

And though they certainly were not perfect…they were thinkers…they were wise.

for they knew the only way to stand united…was to stand together in compromise.

They knew we’d never be a perfect union but hoped we’d do whatever it takes

to change when we needed to change…and to learn from our mistakes.

Fast forward 244 years…we are not a country with one goal, one hope…one heart.

Hate has driven a wedge between we the people…

and we the people have allowed that hate to tear our country apart.

Hate will never be the answer…never!

If we the people can’t find a way to douse it’s flame…

a way to form a more perfect union…

then I suggest…we change our name.

I often wonder why the same nurturing from the Earth

that allows the flower to grow so beautifully from the seed…

that same sunshine

that same rain…

also nurtures all the weeds.

Why is it flowers need so much of our time to grow..

need our constant attention…

constant care

while weeds seem to grow anyplace…

anytime 

and anywhere?

Why is it our flower garden

if we aren’t diligent in meeting it’s needs

if we’re not as attentive as we should be

can be overrun with weeds?

Why is it when it comes to our flowers

we must constantly weed the row

If we want our flowers to be beautiful

if we want our flowers to grow?

Perhaps the Earth is just reminding us

If a beautiful world we want to create….

If we want the flowers of love to continue to bloom

we must constantly remove the weeds of hate.

As I once again watched hate emerge from a person the other day

this thought occurred to me…

What if the world was suddenly plunged into darkness?

A darkness so thick no-one could see.

And what if this obsidian darkness into which we had been thrust…

was the kind of darkness into which…our eyes could not adjust?

How would we interact…where would we even start…

as we groped inside this darkness…unable to tell each other apart?

I wonder would we be more accepting and compassionate if this darkness did arrive?

Would we be more generous…more giving…

if we knew we needed each other to survive?

I wonder in this darkness…what kind of world would our world would be?

I wonder if hate and prejudice would be as prevalent…for people we cannot see?

I wonder if in this darkness love for one another we would reclaim…

I wonder if in this darkness we’d treat everyone the same…

As I once again watched hate emerge from a person the other day

a second thought occurred to me…

That we are plunging ourselves into darkness…with all this hate we’re setting free.

A hate that is already clouding our world…with anger and animosity.

A hate that already…for some people…makes it impossible to see.

And it saddens me how our hate is slowly plunging our world into eternal night…

And I pray that we can change this…while we’re still able to see the light.

With poverty, hunger, hatred and war seemingly around every bend

he asked the wisest person he knows if she feared the world is coming to an end.

She looked at him with a sadness that made him feel a little strange

“I do not fear the world will end.” she said.

“I fear it will continue without change”.

Years from now when they speak of this disease 

people will say how they’re not sure where it began.

They’ll talk of how contagious it was…

and how it swept across the land.

They’ll call it a Pandemic…this particular disease

because it had no limitations…

no restrictions

it knew no boundaries

They’ll say how it didn’t matter 

ones religion, 

sexual preference 

color 

country of origin 

or name

This disease was unrelenting…

single-minded

it treated everyone the same

They’ll say how we passed it on to to one another 

at a truly frightening rate

They’ll remember how by the time people knew they had it…

it often was too late.

They’ll talk of searching for an answer…

while many people died

of how this disease isolated them from their families…

and how their families cried.

They’ll speak of this invisible enemy…

say how it was impossible to eradicate…

They’ll even give this disease a name…

they will call it hate.

Years from now when they speak of this disease…

or write about it in their literature

They’ll wonder why so many people died…

when they already had the cure.

Sometimes when the world saddens me

at night when I fold my hands to pray

I like to think how things would be quite different

If I was God…for a day.

The first thing I’d do is eliminate hate

I’d throw everyone’s hate away

I’d replace all their hate with love

If I was God…for a day.

With love in our hearts we’d accept everyone

we meet along the way

no matter how different they seem to us…

If I was God…for a day.

If I was God…for a day.

Everyone would grow up healthy, safe, secure and well fed

We’d all live long and happy lives 

and die peacefully in our beds.

I’m sure there’d be more to do

more problems to face along the way

but this seems like a great place to start

If I was God…for a day.

Of course this will most likely never happen

I may never get to be God for a day

but at least it gives me something to hope for

at night…when I fold my hands to pray.

SEE SAW THROUGH THE WALL

He understands they’re innocent children…they learn only what we teach them

and when separated by a wall of hate…he wondered how to reach them. 

He knows they know nothing of hatred…of intolerance and bigotry…

but he also knows they are impressionable…they will learn from what they see.

He knows they are looking to the adults at this susceptible time of their youth

to teach them of love and compassion…of integrity and truth…

He wants to show these children and the world that ones so honest, pure and small

are equal and can play together…even separated by a wall.

So he built a multitude of seesaws to show how we’re all sisters and brothers.

To show what happens on one side of the wall…affects what happens on the other.

To show it’s as easy to raise someone up as it is to put them down

As easy to make them smile…as it is to make them frown.

His name is Ronald Rael…it was his idea…his creation

he and other artist friends are behind the installation.

And so the children laugh and play…and as they learn each other’s names

they see, although, separated by a wall of hate…they both love to play the same.

And I wonder what would happen if we followed the lead of ones so small 

and had those who fear and hate…ride a seesaw through the wall.

As they were bouncing up and down…would the learn each other’s names?

Would they finally come to understand how we are all the same?

Would they smile at one another?

Would they realize that fear and hate are wrong?

For isn’t that what many of us…have wanted all along?

Isn’t it curious how everyone alive on Earth that final day

bowed or knelt or raised their hands and to their God did pray.

Oh God! They asked.  “How could you…condemn us to such a fate?”

“You condemned yourselves!” their Gods answered. 

“When you turned our love to hate.”