[This breathtaking poem was kindly shared with us by Maithri Goonetilleke. a medical doctor from Melbourne, Australia. Maithri is also co-founder/director of Possible Dreams International, Inc - a non profit organisation designed to bring tangible hope into the lives of those facing the challenges of extreme poverty, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS and endemic disease. Currently the main focus of their work are the gracious people of Swaziland. Find out more ...]
I looked upon a fearful man
And imagined his school room
filled with dusty books and scribbled
arithmetic
A linear dream of ticks
And crosses
Washed in hues
Of Ballpoint blue and chalky white
And I realised
That the learning of fear
Is often far
removed from a
Teachers
Spectacled eyes
It happens
In the absent words
Of friends and strangers,
In the blaring headlines of
Cold newspapers
and the tom tom drummers
of a love-starved world
Selling epithets of fear
for gold coins
And we are taught the poetics of indifference
And the language of cynicism
We learn how to divide
And subtract
How to dissolve
And diminish
And fear rises
Like smoke
To choke the
Air with her
Bitter fragrance
"Is there nowhere we can go
to
Unlearn?"
I heard myself say,
"To unscar
the scars
and unwound
the wounds
To tear down an old outmoded
Classroom
And Build a silver bridge
In its stead"
And in my dreaming
I almost didn’t notice that
Humility
Had tiptoed in
The backdoor
And started rubbing chalk
Off the blackboard
[This breathtaking poem was kindly shared with us by Maithri Goonetilleke. a medical doctor from Melbourne, Australia. Maithri is also co-founder/director of Possible Dreams International, Inc - a non profit organisation designed to bring tangible hope into the lives of those facing the challenges of extreme poverty, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS and endemic disease. Currently the main focus of their work are the gracious people of Swaziland. Find out more ...]
Search within the Happy Cow Website
The Happy Cow website and all articles on it are created entirely voluntarily and free of charge. However, if you feel that anything on the site has been of value to you, you may wish to make a voluntary contribution to the upkeep of the site. Click on the 'Donate' button below.
If you have an inspiring tale or some interesting philosophy to share with us, please feel free to e-mail your ideas to
contributions@happycow.org.uk.