A little boy was sitting in his yard one day when what should happen by?
Happily flitting and flapping its wings…but a little butterfly.
The boy could not believe his eyes…for riding blissfully…
on the back of that little butterfly…was a little honeybee.
“Excuse me Mr. Butterfly.” The boy said innocently.
“Do you know that upon your back rides a little honeybee.”
The butterfly landed on a flower
Then spoke as she gently nodded her head…
“There’s no need for you to be concerned."
“And no need for alarm.” the honeybee said.
"Life is short.” the butterfly continued.
“About 12 months is all I’ll see”.
“And it’s even shorter,” buzzed her companion
“for me…the honeybee”.
“You see sometimes we tire flying from flower to flower
searching for the nectar they provide.
And when one of us is exhausted
The other one gives her a ride.”
“It is a beautiful relationship.”
The butterfly said giving the bee a wink…
“We find if we work together
There is so much more to drink.”
With that they feasted on the flower
then in a beautiful interplay
The butterfly hopped on the honeybees back
and they cheerfully flew away.
Your head bowed, hands behind,
softly clasped, side-by-side,
we walk genteelly aligned,
askewed bright smiles,
catch our eyes and stay.
As two fluid shadows,
fumble, to masquerade
false togetherness.
When she was young she was afraid of dragons…of ogres and monsters under her bed
and even when she grew up those fears were in her head.
He, too, grew up afraid of dragons…he too felt the dread
of all the scary creatures and villains…that made a home beneath his bed.
But when they found each other… their fears and apprehensions ceased…
they now sleep together…protecting each other from the beasts.
Before the hurricanes it was quite obvious…America was not great…
Before the hurricanes it seemed all we talked about was antipathy and hate.
Before the hurricanes the divisions in our country reared their ugly heads
Before the hurricanes where people gathered…bigotry and animosity was spread.
Before the hurricanes hate was rampant…Where do I begin:
People hated that you were an immigrant, who you loved, or the color of your skin.
But the hurricanes arrived with heavy winds and waters filling the bays
And somehow, for a little while, washed that hate away.
After the hurricanes love was rampant…Where do I begin:
People helped one another…not caring if you were an immigrant, who you loved, or the color of your skin.
After the hurricanes there were no divisions in our country…and unity lifted its beautiful head.
After the hurricanes where people gathered…friendship and tenderness was spread.
After the hurricane our eyesight changed…we were all sisters…we were all brothers
We forgot what was dividing us as we rushed to help each other.
After the hurricanes when we looked around…love was overcoming hate
And it became quite obvious to all who watched…America can be great.
We can be great…
We can overcome hate…
we can let love be our refrain…
If only we heed the lessons we learned…
after the hurricanes.
9/11/2001
a day filled with sorrow, filled with anger…filled with regret
9/11/2001
A day many of us will ever forget…
For that is the moment our world lost its innocence…
So many tragedies inflicted that day…
And we knew the heartache we all were feeling…
Neither our tears…nor the passage of time…could wash away.
But as horrific as 9/11 was for all of us
There’s a subject into which I'd like to delve…
It’s not what occurred to cloud the beauty that day…
It’s what happened…beginning 9/12
9/12 we came together as one country…
One country for all the world to see….
No divisions, no discord, no disharmony…
one people…united through tragedy.
9/12 reminded us how fragile is life
How capricious and fickle is Fate…
We once again learned that life is too short
And we have no time to loathe, scorn…or hate.
It’s been 16 years since the towers fell
A day catastrophic and misbegotten…
But as I look around our country today
I wonder if some of it’s lessons have been forgotten…
We have allowed hate to perch in our country
We are inflicting tragedies in what we do and what we say
We are divided and we are allowing that hate
To cloud all our beautiful days…
I hope we bring back togetherness and love
I hope hate we one day can shelve…
Perhaps just as we did 16 years ago
We can begin again…today…on 9/12.
Lately, I’ve been dubious of religions…the way they’re painted on the news.
We see only the radical ones…with their racist and hateful views…
So in order to learn a little more…and help my religious knowledge increase…
I joined a crowd of diverse faiths as we took a walk for peace.
The idea:
To try and understand one another…to begin a dialogue…
as we marched from church to church…from mosque to synagogue.
I spoke with people of many faiths. I can't remember all their names,
but, no matter who I spoke with, the message was the same…
It was a message of love and understanding spread out for all to see
a message of hope and friendship…of togetherness and unity.
None of these people were hateful, instead, they shared complementary views
These were not the people…I have seen painted on the news.
As we walked together in fellowship…in love and harmony
I had to stop a moment as this thought occurred to me…
What if every religion is painting the same picture but from a slightly different view…
Using different perspectives, different palates, different brush strokes…different hues.
Any religion painted with love, meant to nourish the soul and heart…
though slightly different from the others…is itself a work of art.
And those religions painted with hate…have no place upon our wall
For by color and definition…they are not religions after all.
Religions, true religions, paint one message: to help love in our world increase…
And religions, true religions walk together and dream of peace.