FREEDOM: a Poetic Declaration in Two Movements

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.