The Fierce Urgency of Now
It has been said that
Tomorrow never comes
The past is gone, a memory
The future cannot pre-exist
How could it?
Tap your finger in seven different places
And each time you find only a now.
A building stands alone
Mirroring a succession of many moments
Each of which describes the nows that were
The possibilities of what could be.
Imagination alone is the only time traveler
Use it wisely
For it holds all that can be
All that will be
It encloses our dreams
Of the best of what we know we are.
And so I ask only this --
Who are we?
What makes us better today
than yesterday?
Whence comes our knowledge
of self, of our shortcomings
Of our possibilities?
Do we strive to be liars and
Cheats, self-centered
Losers in the grand scheme
Or all that we can be?
Do we carve the worst of what we are
Into stone so new generations can
read about our noise and violence
Our distrust and our limited vision?
Let us be true to our imaginations
Let us extend the foresight of
Those who gave us life and liberty
Who knew the joy of seeing in
Their minds’ eyes
The fierce urgency of now.
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Your classic line is… "Imagination alone is the only time traveler." So true. Why would we want to imagine a dysfunctional, dystopian future for all of us?
Your poem is a call for action that should be heeded by everyone. And acted upon…
Ron
Sadly, today's education for the young ones isn't the same as our generation. The teachers aren't the same. They don't teach the as teachers in the past. They teach the students protests and sex. I see so many things wrong in today's world.
I used to be against abortion, but now I see the reason why some women would rather not bring any child into this world just to have them learn everything bad.
This isn't the same world anymore. Children don't respect their parents, this is the woke generation. Adults are fed up too. They don't respect each other anymore.
This is not the same world I grew up in.
Sandie