I LIVE IN A DREAM
I live in a dream …
I live in a little English village
Where everyone knows each other.
I go to the butcher shop
And meet Rev. Franklin Graham and Pope Francis.
At the tea shop,
I enjoy tea and tisane with Agatha Christie,
Hercule Poirot, and Miss Marple.
I also see J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis,
G. K. Chesterton, and Dorothy Sayers there.
I say hello to John Henry Newman,
Martin Luther, and St. Francis on the street.
———————
I take a trip to the United States…
I meet Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump –
Through a series of misfortunes,
They have lost most of their money
And have become very humble people;
They regularly meet for coffee at their local coffee house.
I go to a poor section of town.
The unemployed people are busy
Keeping their neighborhood clean,
Working in the community garden,
And going to school part of the day to better their lives.
I go to a rich neighborhood …
No one is home because they are in the poor neighborhood
Distributing clothing, helping in the community garden,
And teaching English to immigrants.
———————
This is my dream …
I no longer worry what you think of me;
I focus on Jesus and try to do His will.
I no longer try to prove I’m right and you’re wrong;
I respect your opinion and will state mine if you’re willing to listen.
I have peace in my heart
Because I have let go,
And given everything to God.
[Reconciling different elements in my life: Christians
with differing viewpoints, political factions, the rich
and the poor, and my own inner conflicts.]
False Enemy
[I thought I should explain how this poem was inspired. I watched a documentary about the real story that the book “The Hunt for Red October” is based on. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh0N3iG-7Uc . In the true story, a Russian naval officer is disillusioned by the way Communism had played out in reality (although he was still a Communist). He tried to start a revolution to bring back Communism to it’s ideal (helping the common people). The documentary also portrayed the Cold War in an interesting way. I thought about all the hopes and dreams of people from very different backgrounds. Then my mind jumped to other differences, like Protestant and Catholic, “conservative” and “liberal”, etc., and I thought, “I wonder if we are all wrong about each other?” Not too say there are not good reasons for the differences and conflicts, only that each person in his heart has a dream that we need to listen to.]
I thought you were my enemy
But someone had told me lies about you,
And so it seems,
Someone had told you lies about me.
We went around in a fog of falsehood
That seemed so normal
Because the fog was constantly around us.
Then the light
Began to break through
For me, for you.
The mist still mystifies
But it’s getting thinner.
Slowly the sun’s light
Is burning through.
Are we just relating
To ideas of each other
Or who we really are?
If I could see
With eyes divine
I would not believe a lie.
Category:
Commentary, Poems
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