This is an "old favourite"... no really.
This poem was translated into arabic and presented to Saddam Husein as a gift by his brother in law after the first gulf war.
Not that I take any responsibility for how other people have interpretted it, or used it, nor what they have made it mean, but I just mean to indicate that it is reasonably "well known"... eg. it is reproduced on the Our Planet web site ... which I have nothing to do with (even though they put my email address at the bottom of their page, and a link to my software services web site!), and I have seen it in some other places as well.
Incidentally, you can buy this poem on a t-shirt! And because it is a bit like a prayer, they make very good nighties.
COMING TO MEET YOU
We are throwing down our weapons
We are leaving our barricades
We are coming to meet you
There are sixty-five thousand of us
If you receive us with friendship this will be
...something new
If you do not we shall die
And they rise out of the ground, across the barbed wire,
Through the mist, and the shells fall
And they walk on
And with each rifle shot
My father died, and my mother died,
And my sister died, and my brother died,
Falling at the other men's feet
Helped to the ground by other men's hands
And still they come, stumbling on through the mist
Pace after pace
Wave after wave of men going to their deaths
And then...
ONE man
One man in an army
One man in the world
Threw down his rifle and cried
And then another
And another
And another
And no one knew it could happen
And no one can be sure it would happen again
But everyone who was there when those soldiers met
Everyone who felt that embrace
Everyone who knew that joy
KNEW that love can be made in the world each day
By ANY ONE MAN
I am throwing down my weapons
I am leaving my barricades
I am coming to meet you...
Strong Agnosticism
-
Agnosticism tends to get characterized as a kind of shrugging your
shoulder's position. But strong agnosticism asserts much more than a shrug
of the should...
4 years ago