I.

we stand on the shoulders

of many divine beings

who walked among us 

spoke our language

laughed their particular laugh

with peculiar joy

who offered us gifts

not even time could wipe from

memory

II.

there is no song we could sing

that could stop the days from melting

into the coming night

but we can keep our hands busy 

we can commit to pursuing a world

that is not yet within reach

but is there hanging plush center in the

black of our closed eyes

III.

all the world’s justice is housed

in the bodies of the downtrodden

who dream big dreams

who imagine a different world

who find the words that shoot

straight into the mouth of

the heart 

IV.

we don’t always acknowledge

the work of the divine

but history keeps a good record 

and what are we if not children 

of the first dreamers?

who taught us the meaning

of a life well-lived

and who demand that we 

leave this world a little less cruel

more free

for someone else