Reimagining
To reimagine the yesteryears of peace,
Is to peer with weary eyes
Through the haze of today’s reality,
Where remembrance of the calm
Is a distant memory of the past.
Will we have to reimagine
Clean air,
Water that sparkles with purity,
Flower dancing in the breeze,
And nectar-blooms for pollination?
Kindness is endangered,
Seeming to be a relic
Lost in a tsunami of hatred.
Why must we now
But dream of gentler days,
Finding today’s Wants
Unpalpable with Needs,
Reason’s injuries void of reverie’s balm?
How long might we remember Nature’s comfort,
Once a given,
Now tumbling through the flotsam of disrespect?
Yet…
Although respectful feel-good moments are rare and precious,
There will always be those who break free
From mental chains of bondage
To find beauty in silence
And the quiet embrace of reimagination.
Truth awaits…
Even as one’s quietness may be lost in the wind,
The joyful laughter of streams along with
The enveloping protection of ancient trees
Creation’s tenacity prevailing,
Bringing protection for the realm of dreams,
Reimagination is poised
For its next entrance
On the shoreline of creative possibilities.
Imagination is to enlightenment
as thuggery is to lost causes.
But for the poem, I find that you may be mistaking the past as somehow being calmer, when I can recall times that were just as violent and as cruel as we see today. Memory and time softens the past.
Where I live is now air conditioned with paved roads and friendly people from all over the world, unlike its past where Houston was considered a mosquito infested mud town before it was paved by Howard Hughes. Blacks and Hispanics, Jews, were all restricted to their parts of town and were generally closed out of the city's governance until the 1960s.
Yes, there is road rage, drive-by shooting, but plans are on their way to create more green spaces and bring wildlife back into the city rather than pave everything over into one hot hell hole.
Ron