When we build a
bridge from our shared pain,
these lives we share,
linking soul to soul
and reaching out our hands to help each other,
we build a roadway so powerful and strong
that no division of age or class or color
can ever threaten to tear it down.
We are not here merely to look within,
to write our epics, spin our tales,
and then pass away unmourned:
we are here to help one another,
to reach out beyond the pain we share
and touch, and hold, and bestow our words
of hard-won wisdom and devastating wit.
When hand touches hand
in friendship and compassion
imagine the sparks that fly,
the fires that are kindled.
When our ideas spark those of another
imagine the electric charge--
a spiritual atom bomb of infinite power!
Power not to destroy, but to heal.
Power not to blockade, but to liberate.
Power not to hate, but to love.
Power not to control, but to live
arms wide open to life,
as we walk across that bridge
of new-found joy together.
Amen.
jbs
5/12/99 |
