TODAY, SHE ENCOURAGED ME

                                   On rainy days
                                we taste the same water – 
                                           As it runs...
                                                 across our cheeks – 

                              We breathe the same air,
                                              she said
                                         It unites us

                                    In sisterly love 
                                                            for the living 
                                       And hopes shared – 
                                            fears fought – 
                                         visions remembered
                                                and others 
                                                                  we still await

                                                  One tribe.
                                                   One mankind – 

                                             in search of a paradise lost

                                Some two thousand years ago
                             they tortured
                                        the communist 
                                                                 from Nazareth
                                   It did not defeat us:
                              It did not kill 
                                           the message
                                       or wipe out
                                                   the example

                          Rich priests bishops baptized princes
                                     diluted the message
                                           perverted it
                                                               And yet –

                                   Do not despond, my friend
                                  People like him 
                                                           live on 

                                        They are not
                                                          forgotten 
 

                                                                      Feb. 9, 2013