I have high hopes for humanity, even when it gives me every reason not to. Perhaps I’m just an eternal optimist. Someone once said to me, “You are hopelessly idealistic, Susan. No one can live up to the principles you aspire to.”
That may be so, but maybe it is the job of idealists and optimists to carry the ball, and create vision for those who can’t at this time. If we do not aspire to a higher vision of what we ourselves, and humanity as a collective can be, then what did our souls come here for anyway? It certainly wasn’t to be mere pawns, cogs in a wheel, doomed to only achieve what we are “allowed to” achieve.
I’ve been writing some social commentary poetry, which I recently have correlated into a collection of fifty poems. Lest you think it is simply complaining about the world’s problems, I assure you that it is not. In essence it is about our glorious potential as we make our way through the current turmoil, and our responsibility to be part of the solution.
It raises questions that I believe we must ask, and work together to answer, in order to turn things around and ring in a Golden Age.
If you are interested, the collection called The Samurai’s Pen: Poetry for Our Times is a free download here.
I hope you will feel compelled to read it. Some people tell me that poetry is just “not their bag”. If that is the case for you, perhaps think of it as “free form prose”. I have noticed on my author site that young readers especially are very drawn to poetry. Perhaps they like the succinct nature of it, or the creative space left to have their own thoughts within it? Or is it the freedom from constraint of traditional communication? Whatever it may be, here is a sampling of from The Samurai’s Pen:
The Trees Weep
The willow weeps,
the pine trees moan,
all Nature's feeling it,
deep to the bone.
Humans out of sync,
not hearing their hearts,
the soul of the Earth's
being torn apart.
"Technology's call
mesmerized them all,
and why can't they see,
their hate is a wall?"
The mountains watch,
their strength eons old,
the oceans too have
seen centuries unfold.
They will endure, but
will humans be here?
"It seems they don't care,
they don't hold us dear."
The eleventh hour
draws swiftly nigh,
trees watch us, crying,
will this be goodbye?
A Different Reality
Just why is it
that we don’t
have a happier
world than this?
What are
we waiting for?
Someone
to give us
permission,
someone to
tell us how
to do it,
someone
who'll do
it for us.
Those some
ones aren't
coming.
I want a
different reality,
I believe
that must
be possible,
and I want to
help build it.
How about you?
Window
All day long I see
people looking down at phones,
what a boring view!
Please, let me see a
whisper of what makes you tick,
your eyes, and your smile.
There are many ways
to set a trap; this one is
brilliant in concept.
What is to become
of humans, and these days I
wonder if they care?
And how would I know?
They say the window to the
soul is in the eyes.
So many eyes now
slaves to a tiny window,
captured by a screen.
Look up, please look up,
I want to connect with what
is real and human.
But do you?
From the The Samurai’s Pen: Poetry for Our Times, © 2023 by Susan L Hart. Simply click on the cover if you’d like to download the ebook free and read more. (It’s available to read in PDF, EPUB, and MOBI formats.)
And, please feel free to share it. :)