In spite of war, in spite of death,
In spite of all man's sufferings,
Something within me laughs and sings
And I must praise with all my breath.
In spite of war, in spite of hate
Lilacs are blooming at my gate,
Tulips are tripping down the path
In spite of war, in spite of wrath.
"Courage!" the morning-glory saith;
"Rejoice!" the daisy murmureth,
......
The pale, the cold, and the moony smile
Which the meteor beam of a starless night
Sheds on a lonely and sea-girt isle,
Ere the dawning of morn's undoubted light,
Is the flame of life so fickle and wan
That flits round our steps till their strength is gone.
O man! hold thee on in courage of soul
Through the stormy shades of thy wordly way,
And the billows of clouds that around thee roll
......
Ah! happy he, upon whose birth each god
Looks down in love, whose earliest sleep the bright
Idalia cradles, whose young lips the rod
Of eloquent Hermes kindles--to whose eyes,
Scarce wakened yet, Apollo steals in light,
While on imperial brows Jove sets the seal of might!
Godlike the lot ordained for him to share,
He wins the garland ere he runs the race;
He learns life's wisdom ere he knows life's care,
And, without labor vanquished, smiles the grace.
......
In Chicago, it is snowing softly
and a man has just done his wash for the week.
He steps into the twilight of early evening,
carrying a wrinkled shopping bag
full of neatly folded clothes,
and, for a moment, enjoys
the feel of warm laundry and crinkled paper,
flannellike against his gloveless hands.
There's a Rembrandt glow on his face,
a triangle of orange in the hollow of his cheek
......
It is in the small things we see it.
The child's first step,
as awesome as an earthquake.
The first time you rode a bike,
wallowing up the sidewalk.
The first spanking when your heart
went on a journey all alone.
When they called you crybaby
or poor or fatty or crazy
and made you into an alien,
......
A thousand whispers
Echo in my mind
The what ifs and the maybes
That have kept me here, confined.
An inner universe forgotten.
An undiscovered life
To find the courage of acceptance
To heal the child inside
We start with great intentions.
But wobble around
Over and over again
Feeling inadequate
Feeling hopeless.
There are things we would like to change,
But very often than not we fall Short of our dreams & hopes.
Oh! What could be the reason?
......
Woke up to a vision like Mohammad Gaddafi,
Behind bars, freedom was possible to Mandela,
Had to heal the world like Doctor Sebi,
Still fly like a butterfly and sting like bee,
And use that big mouth like 2pac Shakur,
Fighting for survival like Nesta Marley,
Back in Congo, machete left arms disabled,
Intelect and soldier respect to Malcolm X,
At the mountain top Martin saw the dream,
A bouquet of flowers for Rosa parks,
......
It is written in books and for TV,
Like when Harry fought you know who,
Or when Nick Nelson told his family he was bi (actually),
Alec realising it wasn't Lydia he loved,
When Pru, Piper and Phoebe were more powerful together,
The doctor constantly running towards danger,
And when Layken learnt to parent as she grieved.
Yes they have courage,
But there's more courageous people in the real world.
......
Blindfold tied tight
Breathing too fast
Got to move on
Can’t be the last
Leaves underfoot
Roots grab my feet
Got to move on
Can’t miss a beat
Rope in my hand
......