Dear World

Hyakutake comet - image from telegraph.co.uk

[I came across this poem among my papers this evening: the poem Dear World,

written by Alma Luz Villaneuva of California on March 24, 1996. I thought I would post it here for your enjoyment. It has been a heavy day on the airwaves, watching footage of the Twin Towers being attacked and then collapsing. It has stricken me wordless. I thought we could use a lift, something hopeful, something Other.]

Dear World,

18,400 years ago, this comet

we call (in 1996) Hyakutake

came close to the Earth (ten million

miles away, ten million); and we

can see it with the naked

eye, floating in the sky like

a tail of light. The last

time it came within ten million

miles, humans were just crossing

the terrible, icy glaciers,

the Bering Strait, into this

land mass, North America, one

of the floating, enduring Turtles.

The Turtles whispered, "Leap of

faith, dream, leap of faith, dream,"

as the comet edged its way

ten million miles, so close. 18,400

years later, the Turtles whisper,

"Leap of faith, one planet, leap

of faith, one people." This planet

floating through the stars, comets

coming home to sing to the Turtles:

"Cross the terrible, icy glaciers,

the human heart, leap."