Our Future:
Chapter 11: Nuestro El Segundo Acto
Find It Within
The Age of Awe
The squeaky gates closed behind me.
Waiting for me, port side,
was a cranky chug-boat,
puffing steam
ready to go,
‘n one overstuffed
trunk of junk.
Two things fill the mind with ever new
and increasing admiration and awe, the
more often and steadily we reflect upon
them: the starry heavens above me
and the moral law within me.
–Immanuel Kant. 1724-1804.
Life is full of awe and grace and truth and
mystery and wonder.
I live in that atmosphere.
–Dion DiMucci. Born 1939.
Above me,
in the night’s violet sky, I see them:
A million eyes glistening in the galaxy above;
I have yet to identify my special steering star.
As I cross the once foreboding sea,
the black tar turned into salt water taffy;
day light increased and the darkness receded.
Never felt alone again, not by day or night.
Tukayo, missed, will forever see over me,
continue to guide ‘n advocate for me;
‘n forever sound right beside me;
always at the ready to
rub away any ol’ frown.
There are two ways to live:
You can love as if nothing is a miracle;
you can live as if everything is a miracle.
The most beautiful thing we can experience
is the mysterious. It is the source of all
true art and all science. He to whom this emotion
is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder
and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead:
his eyes are closed.
–Albert Einstein. 1879-1955.
To science, not even the bark on the tree
or drop of pond water is dull or a
handful of dirt banal.
They all arouse awe and wonder.
–Jane Jacobs. 1916-2006.
Immigrating, with a tattered, old trunk,
full of words, images ‘n compositions;
the rickety vessel docks, starborad;
disembarked, tied up, offloaded.
As the ability to speak returned.
Me, me, me; wow! My voice!
Stood tall; on the pier
with my stuffed trunk;
my hat in my hand.
Inhaled the salty air
‘n smells of bustling humans.
Seagulls squawked
as my cargo grew restless.
Self-esteem is the result of recognizing
our personal power; awe and wonder
come from recognizing our lack of it.
Both are true, and in an exceptional life
there is no conflict between them.
–Victoria Moran. Born 1950.
When you look at yourself and feel
dissatisfaction about any part of you,
you will continue to attract feelings of
dissatisfaction, because the law mirrors
back to you exactly what you are holding inside.
Be in awe and wonder at the magnificence of you!
–Rhonda Byrne. Borne 1951.
I begin my speech:
Moored, shored ‘n sure;
this is the place to be.
I must find my human
‘N start teaching what they taught me.
‘N surprise him as I return as the new
‘N improved edition, Civil Rights 2.0.
‘N to put the bounce back in his step.
The trunk started rockin’ back ‘n forth.
Okay, enough with the bad speeches. (Muffled.)
Hope my slippers have enough tread on ’em.
It just may be a really long
‘n really heavy haul.
I give it another whirl:
I have seen my society
in my prayers ‘n dreams;
‘n upon a land of beauty
‘n abundance, we thrive.
If I had influence with the good fairy
who is supposed to preside over the
christening of all children I should ask that
her gift to each child in the world be a
sense of wonder so indestructible that it
would last throughout life, as an unfailing
antidote against boredom and disenchantments
of later years, the sterile preoccupation with
things artificial, the alienation from
sources of our strength.
–Rachel Carson. 1907-1964.
Don’t forget the one catch for all of us to fulfill!
(Still muffled.)
Oh yes, of course.
How my guiding star
sounds so close ot me today.
Very well, here we go:
Two-part expression, both questions:
First one for me, second one for you:
How much can I love?
How may I love you?
Abruptly, the latches broke
‘n my stowaway fluttered out
of the trunk, smiling.
The surest way to be happy is to seek
happiness for others.
–Martin Luther King, Jr. 1929-1968. (A)
Be who you are and say what you feel
because those who mind don’t matter and
those who matter don’t mind.
–Dr. Seuss. 1904-1991
Gift number Nine:
Find the sublime within Y~our time.
Uh-oh, me-o-my
Tukayo came packing
a bunch of protest signs.
In this new game,
Tukayo already shines.
Readily, to new height Tukayo climbs
To the top of a nearby gangplank?
Wait, wrong way, Tukay–
An offshore gust
–Woh
To be yourself in a world that is constantly
trying to make you something else is the
greatest accomplishment.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson. 1803-1882.
The knowledgeable person lives with a
question mark ‘?’ and the man of awe and wonder
loves with an exclamation mark.
–Rajneesh. 1931-1990
Woh, just a little wobbly …
I have a voice!
Aye Aye,
I have a voice.
I know.
But go easy on the physical stuff.
It’s been a thousand years.
(Woops, there are those frowning eyes.)
Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment.
It is the determined choice
of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos.
–George W. Bush. Born 1946.
“ASAP.
Who are We?
We are the ruby-red
heart of democracy
and national expanse of equity.”
Silly Seer, what are you goin’ on about?
Another gust of wind, this time, onshore.
It refreshes their features ‘n identifiers.
Lips–Eyes–Noses–Ears emerge.
We approach each other.
We touch each other’s face.
We lean our foreheads into each other.
Life is not easy for any of us, but what of that?
We must have perseverance and above all
confidence in ourselves. We must beleive
that we are gifted for something and that this thing,
at whatever cost, must be attained.
–Marie Curie. 1867-1934.
Talking about you and me,
My striking sidekick.
You ‘n me,
My exquisite soulmate.
And the third beat in this here, ‘Wee.’
Within this one, herewith my newlywed!
Signed ‘n sighed,
My maritime bride.
Let’s give it another round:
Here, like nowhere else, stands
a myriad of vastly varied peoples,
homing to this sandy pebbly strand;
holding the pulse of these vast lands
in our strong, protective hands.
My second political chant!
Yeah, we can work on it.
Obviously, there is pain in childbirth.
But giving birth is also a moment of awe and wonder
a moment when the true miralce of aliveness,
and of a woman’s amazing part in that miracle,
is suddenly experienced in every cell of one’s body.
It is in that sense truly an altered state of consciousness.
–Rianne Eisler. Born 1931.
Life without liberty is like a body
without a spirit.
–Kahil Gibran. 1883-2932.
Wonderful words to usher us in to
a life of health ‘n well-being
for the oldest ‘n youngest
for the first ‘n last in line
for us ‘n our off-spring.
