They wanted love. The young.
The desire was inside them.
A candle in the night.
A match
in a bedroom of fireworks.
They wanted to tumble in pairs
into the prayers of
another world – hot
unions of bodies and souls. To
smell, to taste, to
touch, to feel, and
to experience
(as if dreaming together)
the light of the rose
of immortal wishes.
Old men
hard rulers, takers
with dry bodies
with desiccated souls, devoid
of heart and empathy
issued orders, commanding
yet another generation
(again and yet again)
into the nightmare maelstrom
of political death. Crushing
youth and life
beneath the mechanized
sledgehammers of loveless war.
But the young
wanted only love. To
smell, to taste, to
caress and be
caressed by the blissful
light of the rose
of immortal wishes.
The desire burned inside them.
A longing for peace.
David Sparenberg: An eco-poet, essayist and storyteller, David Sparenberg is author of four books: EARTH KEEPER: an Ecosophy of Poems, EARTH CRISIS HUMAN CRISIS: Urgent Essays, BEING HERE & BELONGING: Visions, Talks & Meditations, volumes 1-3 in the Grassroots Reader Series, and CONFRONTING the CRISIS: Essays & Meditations on Eco Spirituality from Moon Books. David lives in Seattle, WA in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
