A Brave and Startling Truth
Lezanne, one of the Palaestreans, sent me this poem yesterday. A Brave and Startling Truth by Maya Angelou. Here are the first two stanzas, it is a truly magnificent piece.
We, this people, on a small and lonely planet
Traveling through casual space
Past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns
To a destination where all signs tell us
It is possible and imperative that we learn
A brave and startling truth
And when we come to it
To the day of peacemaking
When we release our fingers
From fists of hostility
And allow the pure air to cool our palms
What is this brave and startling truth? It is that we humans are capable of both immense evil and great good.
When we come to it
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body
Created on this earth, of this earth
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety
Without crippling fear
When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.
We have a choice.
Get skin in the game, choose good.
Listen to the full poem:
Pierre
