(acrostic)
A not-so-special summer day, in a year not long ago,
Lived seven girls, newly born -
their names we soon shall know.
Lovely and robust, these suckling babes
one thing in common had;
Received each a gift of jewel'd pin,
securely fastened to its pad.

Each birth took place at moment same
in a very different land;
Life anew under diverse circumstances
of family wealth at hand.
In one of the pins were set
the most elegant diamond stones;
Gem-like jewels in another:
not real, but having lovely tones.

In every case 'twas so - for the seven pins in seven lands,
Of various intrinsic value, affixed to hair and wristbands.
Now, as the girls matured,
the pin of each became neglected,
Set aside - not lost -
joining many other trinkets they collected.

Persons each from varied lands,
they differed in religions, too;
Reformed, Bonnie was Christian raised,
Asli, Muslim, and Bena, Jew.
Elsewhere in other nations dwelt Halima, Black,
and An, Chinese,
Also Shanata from a far Hindu land, and Cai, a Vietnamese.
Collectively reared in what may be termed families
of modest middle class,
Households with means for basic wants
but which did not great wealth amass.
They grew up as energetic happy girls in relative obscurity;
Highly cultivated with self-discipline, all wed upon maturity.

Each from her town of birth, through life,
did not venture in exploits daring.
Grew each in family and children had,
varying in success of childhood rearing.
On balance, they lived average lives
for the environments that they were in.
Lose not, dear reader, the tale’s essence;
remember each bejeweled pin.

Due to unlike backgrounds, the women never met -
fated 'twas they should not unite;
Each did, at time, travel near each other,
as with ships passing in the night.
Now, the girls were raised in accepted form,
subject to their religious ways;
Readily did they participate in the spirit
of varied gift-giving holidays.

Usually not on concurrent dates
will fall world faiths' religious feasts;
Laws of each creed determine such calendars -
differing, West and East.
Each festive Chinese New Year
entails much enthusiasm and noise,
As is true of the Vietnamese Tet,
repeated feasting and crowdful joys.

Loud, too, the Hindu feast of Holi is filled
with joy and much gaiety;
And the Muslim holiday Eid Al-Fitr
honors almsgiving charity.
We Christians have Christmas, of course,
which we merrily celebrate,
And Jewish feast of Hannukah
miracle of oil does commemorate.

Blacks, of late, share festive days
honored by many Africans world-wide;
On Kwanzaa, a time of ingathering of people
to profess their bonds and pride.
Variously, there are religious holidays
among people of the Earth;
Each, in its own way, generally,
commemorating some honored person's birth.

Again returning to the seven women -
and the fable of their seven pins,
Lovingly, the spirit of these matrons
embraced the feasts cited herein.
Living each her life in separate way,
dictated by traditions she professed,
Our seven women thus endured,
and each with one grandchild was blessed.

The tender relationship between each grandmother
and grandchild pair
Hugs centrally to this story of pins,
which were not seen lately anywhere.
Each ancient, on occasion, imparted wisdom
and did her grandchild guide;
Remarkably, each child was destined, one day,
to inspire accord world-wide.

Sage, were those vital ardent admonitions
to each fated maker of world peace;
No import of their words could be divined
by women with no such expertise.
And so the counsels to the children
did begin their fateful circuitous moral path;
Motivating each to later brilliant deeds of peace-making
and its happy aftermath.

Each grandchild would sit at world councils,
forging peace on some future day;
Leaders in their religions, moved by grand-mother's words
said in a simpler way.
Yes, the uniting of world faiths in awareness
that same sermon they all did preach;
'Twas to be crucial to arranging world peace
that all mankind would at length reach.
Happily, the families enjoyed many years celebrating
their separate holy feasts;
All the women and grandchildren had fulfilled lives -
blessings never ceased.
Then, after many years,
the grandmothers' long lost birth-pins were found;
And tendered lovingly to each by her grandchild
and love did more abound.

Life ebbing, the grandmothers persisted, reaching old age and senility;
Lovingly, upon their bosoms the pins were worn,
given by their progeny.
Human mortality beckoned at old age for each,
though happiness was rife;
Until, at last the aged women did expire -
on same day bereft of mortal life.

Marvelously, at that moment,
although none on Earth could detect it,
All the stones of each pin were shed,
as if dislodged by heavenly magic.
Now, all that is, but one!
A single stone in vigil on each pin remained;
In glory of a grandchild left behind,
and achievements to be attained.

Thus, as collective dying breath
did gently from each immortal soul excise,
Yesteryears' pin-stones joined the souls
on journey to reward and paradise.
An ensemble of ethereal precious jewels,
pearls, and amethysts in paradox,
Refashioned with bits of colored glass and paste
and assorted bijou rocks.

Eerily, at first, 'though no one could see,
in miniature swirl of vortex'd air,
Rising, souls and jewels began their journey to reward,
as in a wafting prayer.
Even as tethered bright balloons
released suddenly with curly swirling strings;
And like butterflies flitting randomly
on fragile brightly-embellished wings.

Lustrous as bright phosphors of gleaming light
in dark ocean's night display;
Like ripples in dilating radials
on limpid pond in windless day.
Yet not unlike glowing sparks, thrust up in spiral smoke
of crackling wood fire.
Or as hissing, flailing wings of doves
fleeing a St. Mark's Square church spire.

Not unlike kaleidoscopic quarter-turns
that emit complex jeweled resplendence;
Emulating autumn leaves
curling down waterfalls in forested stream dependence.
And like glittering shoes of whirling dancers,
attached to lovely swaying limbs,
Nor unlike the rush of colored leaves
churned from trees by frisky zephyr winds.

Disarrayed, perhaps, as a fleet of kites,
weaving in confused airflow;
Twirling as flurried flower petals
on late summer breeze in Alpine meadow.
On journey's end, jewels and souls merged in fusion
to form a distant fiery sun;
Each conjoined with their God that day -
souls and jewels in orb became as one.
And then that star condensed and shattered silently
in the vast infinitude of space;
Constellation, newly formed with seven stars,
like Pleiades, in that celestial place.
Here, amid glowing lace of cosmic clouds
and myriad blazing astral networks,
Our pin-stars, in ecstasy,
issued wafting tendrils of brilliant interstellar fireworks.

There, every incandescent orb
holds pin jewels and soul of the women that gave
Holy persons who engendered tender guidance
in some private obscure conclave;
Each lesson by grandmother to grandchild -
wisdom that germinated lasting peace.
Remembered notion that to each other
our mutual understanding ought increase.
But these words, in a way must have comprised
what some call the Golden Rule;
Reside it must, and should be taught and pledged
in every home and school.
One rule only, in whatever form,
which exhorts all persons on this earth
To behave to one another in kindly way -
a teaching of greatest worth.

Hereby remember to do unto one another
only that which you would desire
Equally done to yourselves -
such a rule should truly all mankind inspire.
Reasoned morality of seven fervent peacemakers
in their pious disciplines
Shall bring about world peace
due to the wisdom of seven women with seven pins.

Judge not my labored poetic technique too harshly,
I beg of you, O reader;
Commencing each left-justified line above
there lies a capital letter.
You say, "True! One hopes first letters of poetic lines
to be capitalized throughout."
Read downward these first letters, then,
for a message we should not do without.
• • •
“ALL RELIGIONS PREACH THE GOLDEN RULE
A LAW ABOVE ALL OTHERS
NAMELY THAT ALL HUMANITY ARE REALLY ONE
AND TO EACH OTHER BROTHERS”