The Turning - Anodea Judith

[Larry Robinson]

The Turning

There were so many times it seemed impossible;
Everything getting worse and worse
Suffering, hopelessness, corruption;
Dire news every day.
Just too much wrong,
And always
On the dark horizon
The looming sentence of our demise.

It was in everything
Metastasized like a cancer;
A life threatening hatred, 
Let loose to poison our hearts.

But then, slowly, 
imperceptibly at first,
when all hope seemed lost,
Things started to turn.

A girl from Sweden,
A demonstration of youth, 
A regulation that held;
A town that stood its ground,
A truth that was louder than lies.
A fire that was extinguished,
A kindness that was extended,
A moral fiber that poked through the tattered web 
and began the mending.

It gathered strength in
The steady march of the silent, electric cars, 
the gleaming solar panels, 
and the Greening, Oh the Greening, 
everywhere we could
The rooftops and sidewalks, and windowsills, spilling into sunlight.
We’d hardly noticed the birds were missing 
until they began to sing again.

Eventually the corruption gave way
Like corroded metal, 
Collapsing under the weight of people’s hearts.
Politicians falling through their selfish webs,
First one, then another, 
Until like dominoes, they were scattered on the dust heap of history.

The stench was gone.
The hatred just no fun anymore;
Even the worst had no taste for it.

We picked up the pieces, scattered over the land.
We were quiet. 
We were humbled.
We were careful.
We listened. 
We sang.
We told new stories.

We barely even noticed when it began.
But looking back, 
It was happening all along.

And then, at last, we laughed.


	- Anodea Judith
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/poetrylovers/attachments/20190910/2368de0f/attachment.html>