I.
THE LIGHTEST METAL
Lightest metal in me
Cannot roam free
Atomic number three
Primordial sea
Cut with knife
Atomic number three
Valence electron
Instability
Too deep brine pool
Brine pool to me
Owe life and sanity
Salt compound in me
II.
I AM IRRATIONAL
i am irrational
are you irrational, too?
that makes two of us
what a dreary world
this would be
if everybody
were rational
would we have paintings
like those of van gogh?
would berlioz have composed
“march to the scaffold”?
i am not suggesting
we head to guillotine
let me assure you
i am no philistine!
III.
QUAKER GARDENS
Serene comes to mind
Quaker Gardens find
West of Bunhill Fields
Silent worship yields
“Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
And remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
Be on good terms with all persons.
“Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
And listen to others,
Even to the dull and the ignorant;
They too have their story.” *
George Fox’s headstone
Rests alone
Caretaker’s home
Survived bomb
Quakers carry no creed
Witness to living Truth, indeed
Peace, simplicity, integrity,
Equality, earthcare, community
I come from faraway
Seeking answers today
Traveled a long way
Turmoil of yesterday
* From "Desiderata" by Max Ehrmann (1927)