[Newspoetry] Where Do People Come From? (A reply to a Gift Outright.)

[DL Emerick]

Once upon a time, long, long ago,
There was a Land, empty and alone.

 

As now, the sun daily rose and warmed the land,

Or else, snows and rains came down to water and cool it;

At night, stars and moons would caress the vacant land,

And, sometimes, puffy clouds and soft fogs swaddled it.

 

As now, animals roamed through the empty land,

Haunting its silent woods and still prairies,

Where trees towered and grasses waved;

Where also birds soared and fishes swam.

 

But the land was lonely and knew its loneliness.

Long lay the land, alone at night, restless, sleepless;

The Land prayed to the Great Spirit:

I'm lonely and need something more.

 

Blessed be the Great Spirit!

He hears all prayers

Even those of lonely land

Or even lonelier people.

 

Blessed be the Great Spirit!

He grants all worthy prayers, as well!

So He became a matchmaker

And sent the lonely people to the lonely land.

 

It was a match made in Heaven!

The people came to the land,

Tired and hungry and worn out;

They came by bridges and boats,

They came first in trickles and then in torrents,

They came in poverty,

They came from slavery,

The kin of the poor,

And they found the Land.

 

They were lonely no more nor was the Land.

She welcomed them each and all,

Strange as their languages were to Her,

And gave up Her wealth to them willingly,

Happy to hear all the songs they sang.

As they labored to make lives in the New Land.

 

Blessed be the Great Spirit!

When He decides how things should be,

He does not give sparingly:

And so, as the long centuries rolled by,

He continued sending more lonely people,

For the Land was vast as Her riches equally large.

 

Oh, when they came, they spoke strangely,

Slow as people are too learn anything,

Especially the common tongues of their older neighbors,

But Time erases old tongues, gradually -

Melting them together, into one tongue,

Ever richer for all its diversity -

For a good tongue is a polyglot

Reflecting all of long history in its many peoples.

 

The grateful Land was patient also and caring always,

Never saying "No" to any who came to Her,

Never laying down rules against their coming,

Knowing that they would all be Her children,

And come to love Her as She first loved them.

 

Blessed be the Great Spirit!

To Him, the Land sent grateful prayers

And thanked Him for his Gifts,

Whereby Her loneliness came to an end.

 

But days passed and the Land listened, too,

And found in some of Her peoples

A possessiveness that dispossessed Her,

That strove against the later coming peoples,

All equals in Her ancient eyes -

So, She sighed after their little ways

And prayed for their smaller souls, too.

 

Blessed be the Great Spirit!

He said, "I shall send them Peace,

Remind them that they are not the end

Remind them that they do own you, Oh, Land!

I shall give them humility

And from its fruits shall grow

Justice and mercy shall swell and overflow."

 

And, He sent a Statue, too,

A marker and a reminder,

That the Land was always open and free

To all who would come to Her,

Seeking better lives and peace,

Without regard to their poverty,

Paying no heed to how they spoke,

As long as they were lonely and dejected,

Despised outcasts from older angry Lands.

 

Blessed be the Great Spirit!

Blessed be the Land that He loves, indeed!

Blessed be those He sends to the lonely Land

And may they find His love ends their loneliness!

 

Blessed be the Great Spirit!

And may our spirits grow great

Imitating Him,

Loving all.

 

 

(Annex:  I always thought this poem was a bit too short.

it started speaking slowly but it spoke too little

 

 <http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/994.html>
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/994.html

 

I was thinking of it, a bit,

when writing the piece above.)

 

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