Tuesday, May 12, 2020

The Stone Does Not Cry Out





Hold on, the wise woman said, 
when everything falls apart.
This is a time of transition;
you will emerge changed and honed,
like iron forged in fire,
clear-eyed, stronger-boned.

As the old life is softly falling away;
a new day dawns.
We'll create a local world;
corporations will be gone.

Hold on, the wise woman said,
while a new world forms around you,
with brighter dreams to ground you.
Who knew? That good could follow greed,
that Mother Earth would speak so clearly
her and her peoples’ need.

Let's topple the Mad King off his throne,
for under his seat sits a silent stone,
the people's lamentation, a collective moan.
We await its crying out; we are
desperate for relief.
We prepare the flags and the feast
for the unseating of the thief.

(The secret no one dares to speak:
we are the very knights we seek.
Let's cast our ballots in the Box 
of Possible Tomorrows,
and take the high road home
to a world with fewer sorrows.)


Sharing this at earthweal where Brendan told us the tale of a stone underneath the king's chair, that only cries out when a True King sits on it. Needless to say, the current self-appointed king does not invite a cry from the stone beneath the throne, though the rest of us are objecting loudly enough.



11 comments:

  1. Wow! " Let's topple the Mad King off his throne,
    for under his seat sits a silent stone,
    the people's lamentation, a collective moan." I LOVE this poem. I hear us raising a revolutionary cry in these poems of truth. I finally fear change less than lack of change.

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  2. This speaks the hope for all of us. Let it be so.

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  3. I worry that the next time we rise in protest will be for the same reason we did in 2016. That would be the worst thing I can imagine.Worse than the virus, and the virus is terrifying, especially now it is mutating. But the mad king is worse.

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  4. A clarion call to action! I think you are as appalled by your leadership as I am by ours. Egoists make bad leaders.

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  5. Sarah, I'm Canadian, but cant abide the craziness of what is going on below the border which, ultimately, affects Canadians too, and other global citizens. I was part of too many movements for civil rights, peace, women's rights, to handle watching everything get destroyed and rolled back while thieves stuff their pockets while people are dying. Gah. Drives me CRAZY.

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  6. " the Box
    of Possible Tomorrows,"
    Love the rhyming and feel of this poem and the questing tone, it fits so well with the challenge...JIM

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  7. I love that you picked up on the tale of the stone underneath the king's chair – a bit like the sword in the stone – and ran with it, Sherry. I also agree with what you said about the current self-appointed king!
    It seems that, at the moment, all we can to is hold on while everything falls apart. I admire the optimism in:
    ‘you will emerge changed and honed,
    like iron forged in fire,
    clear-eyed, stronger-boned’.
    I hope we do create a local world.

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  8. Do you know the story? Under the throne at Glastonbury once was set a black stone from Iona, which was said to cry out when a true king sat in it. And yes, like the sword in the stone, only a legitimate heir can remove it. (The bladdering whines of our present American president provide ample evidence of the silence of such stones.) The Mad King won't survive the virus, not in essence at least. Great response to the challenge, hope you're feeling better. - Brendan

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  9. I like the reference to the Stone of Scone and the mad king. Reminds me if Napoleon taking the crown from the Pope and crowning himself. Excellent poem Sherry. A call to hope.

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  10. I hope our mad king gets dethroned and I have to work at cleansing my thoughts when I consider what other things I might hope for him. But, I must stay positive. At least a dethroning would bring a little normality to this country.

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  11. I do hope this world comes to pass. We are the ones who can make it so.

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