Part One: inspired & freely adapted from a poem by the French lyric poet Paul Eluard
On every door
at every gate
in every doorway
on all the windows, mirrors
of all the world
I write your name.
On every road
with every step
in the wide meander
and the sand
on the straight and narrow
and around each bend
on every spiral
and on all horizons
in circles sacred and profound
as far as eyes can see
emotion reach
on every meadow
on every mountain summit
on sunstruck tops
in every
valley on every knoll
in glacier streams
and humble brooks
on all birds
on all trees
on all fishes, frogs
in all the rivers
in all the seas
across the land
weather tossed
and weather worn
across the waters
of tides and winds of
moons and stars
in aspirations of generations
and throughout the parchment pages
layered in the annals of time
on wheels and the spires
and the clocks and long clock shadows
I write your name.
On every flower’s petal tips
in every kiss on longing lips
on every smile
in every sigh
on breath of dawn
in hush of night
wherever children are at play
wherever mothers near are watching
wherever hands are working;
with every lover who was ever lost
with all lovers to be found
with lovers pined for and desire
and with every lover
not yet known or touched by love
in every beating heart
blush and heartbreak
in every soul awake to dreaming
in eyes of men old and young
in women’s eyes on rainbow arcs
with dolphin sport
and orca pods on
pollen bees and autumn leaves
and butterflies
where hands are held
in rhythms joined
wherever songs are being sung
where honesty is needed most
where courage is resisting cruelty
where dignity is upheld in solidarity
where truth is spoken
truth that is not bought or sold
here where I stand
there where you are
in this moment
lifted by a
breeze brushed by the
burning bush of eternity
I write your name:
Liberation.
Part Two:
When the vision of the soul is equal
to the slight of the eyes.
When the aspiration of the heart the
inspiration, heart-song
is as practical as breathing
When the machines are silent but
every task is done
When there is peace through conscious evolution
(the shadows of abuse absorbed
into the light of love)
and kindness is the world’s currency
FREEDOM
Freedom will be the name of the EARTH.
David Sparenberg is the author of CONFRONTING the CRISIS: Essays & Meditations on Eco Spirituality. He is a teacher of existential ecosophy and Eco-poet who lives in the Pacific NW of the United States.
