The voices of poets from every corner of our world. The main aim was to show how much we have in common at the same time as our leaders seem to be showing us how little we have in common as humanity. This anthology offers hope, healing and a source for sparks of compassion. Within it poetry by Rita Dove, John Kinsella, Rayn Roberts, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Mohammad Bennis, Dalai Lama and 100 other poets from 24 countries.
Never Give Up
Never give up
No matter what is going on
Never give up
Develop the heart
Too much energy in your country
Is spent developing the mind
Instead of the heart
Develop the heart
Be compassionate
Not just to your friends
But with everyone
Be compassionate
Work for peace
In your heart
And in the world
Work for peace
And I say again
Never give up
No matter what is going on around you
Never give up
Message by His Holiness The Dalai Lama. Tibet
Translated into this poem by Ron Whitehead. USA
Professional Reviews
Review of The Book Of Hope: International Poetry in a Collective Voice of Hope, Birgitta Jonsdottir, Editor
- Including works by His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Rita Dove and Ron Whitehead, The Book Of Hope is a magnificent collection of poems with one aim, to bring hope and love to this stricken world. Hope is one of those things that not everyone in the world can take for granted. When living through a day, sun up to sun down is an achievement; hope can be nothing more than life itself.
From the mass graves of Rwanda, Sudan, and those we know about and those we don't, is it too much to think that poetry can change a brutal dictatorship or a hand raised back in anger? I'm not sure, but there is always Hope, with hope, peace will come later, one thing at a time, one poem at a time. -
