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poem

by Alan Brisley

This is not a workshop,
This is a voyage of discovery.
We have launched the ship
And now we are all in it
Together.

Where is the village that is waiting
To welcome us home?

Will we now set sail into the dark night
Of our bone memories,
Leaving all
That is familiar
Behind?

Yes,
This river has been waiting so long
To carry us home.

Look at these children,
Do you see how courageously they shine
Upon our watery path?
They must be the stars in our ancestors'
sky.

How can we receive such promise and
such beauty
Onto such a fragile craft
As we have pieced together with these
Salvaged scraps of wood?
How can we hold these ones
On such an untried journey?

Listen,
Listen to them
Calling to us in our lost darkness:

"Go deeper," they say,
Go further!
Love one another
As you love us!

Know one another.

Fiercely shower
Your abundance
Upon one another,
As you do upon
Us!

Let this great green earth hold you
As you hold us!
Listen!
The old ones are calling
you home,
Just as you call to us,
When we tire and are too
hungry
To think.

Your ship is stronger
Now, than if it had never
been
Broken.

Go further!
Go deeper!

Because, only then,
When the village is woven
strong
Again,
When the nest is
complete,
Will we stand among
you
Again
Knowing that, together,
We have risen full
Into ourselves."

Copyright © 2006 by the article's author