Dream of the Earth

The earth axis shifts and latitudes change.

The sun is hidden by the shadow of the moon.

At the sound of ice melting on the North Pole,

a white bear opens his eyes.

An epidemic breaks out in Africa; rain falls in the Sahara,

and Palestinian refugees escape imprisonment.

Something is going on in the world. Something is going on.

Every minute and every second, the earth revolves and the world changes.

Everyone deeply in dream, not noticing unusual scenery, day after day read poems

whose rhythm is out of time….

While a fresh couple with joyous smiles presses a seal on a marriage registration form,

somewhere, someone pushes the pedal of a bicycle to buy sweet potatoes roasted on hot pebbles.

While a newborn baby gives a first cry somewhere on the earth,

someone somewhere passes away in a birth of new life and a departure named death.

As we fall asleep to a dream called “ordinary life” ….

Not knowing that something is happening somewhere.

A year, 365 days, 24 hours, each minute and each second,

on the stage of the earth, various plays are unfolding.

When a sun’s spotlight is on, somewhere a curtain of night falls.

Each is not aware of each other’s play.

At the time the curtain closes, we get sleepy and yawn.

On the other side of the earth,

in darkness of night, the shade of the daytime,

something is happening.

Samurai at the Meiji Restoration, without falling asleep,

run around all over Japan for the sake of revolution.

At the time of war, the captain who received saddening news,

not sleeping into comforting words, keeps his dignity.

Great heroes at various times,

backstage of the play “our ordinary life”,

shake our history -change the world.

While we are snoozing,

while we are having a sequel of a dream,

the earth revolves, the world changes.

The earth axis shifts and the latitude changes.

The moon is hidden by the shadow of the sun.

While we do not know,

someone with a sharp look witnesses the change of the world.

Just now, just right …now, someone is watching.

Wake UP

“There are teachers in classrooms all over the world who long to talk to their pupils about peace and solidarity among people of all nations and races.

There are ministers in churches of every denomination who want to inspire their congregations as Martin Luther King, Jr., did, to struggle for justice in a spirit of joy and love.

There are people, millions of them, who travel from country to country for business or pleasure, who can carry messages that will begin to erase, bit by bit, the chalk marks of national boundaries, the artificial barriers that keep us apart.

There are scientists anxious to use their knowledge for life instead of death.

There are people holding ordinary jobs of all kinds who would like to participate in something extraordinary, a movement to beautify their city, their country, or their world.

There are mothers and fathers who want to see their children live in a decent world and who, if spoken to, if inspired, if organized, could raise a cry that would be heard on the moon.

It is, of course, an enormous job to be done. But never in history has there been one more worthwhile. And it needn’t be done in desperation, as if it had to be done in a day. All we need to do is make the first moves, speak the first words. “

Words by Howard Zinn from Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology

An Urgent Message