Smiles have
this way, they
captivate and
illuminate,
they raise up
our energy
and light up
the world,
they ripple
outward and
boomerang
back to us,
they’re a gift
we give to others
and to ourselves,
so just –
Smile.
Our love was
so strong that
we were just
a stone’s throw
from reconciliation,
but the stones
already slung had
so badly broken
the glass house
of our trust that
fragments seeded
a stone wall over
which no stone
could ever be
thrown again.
We were so close,
and yet so far.
This poem was written for Rebecca Cunningham’s November Poetry Challenge at Fake Flamenco. Thank you for the prompt and the inspiration, Rebecca! 🙂
“We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.” ~ George Orwell, 1984
George Orwell’s quote begs the question, is there a such a place of no darkness in this 3rd-dimensional Earth plane? History has shown that darkness has always existed, and so we might extrapolate that it likely always will to one degree or another. After all, challenge appears to be a crucial factor in sparking self-illumination in humans, and is that not why our souls choose to have an experience of life in a human body on this planet? To grow?
I’ve tried to imagine what life would be like if we had no challenge, and, is that how we would define utopia? It would be pretty darned boring, I think. Having said that, I also think that human beings at this time are being weighted by too many unnecessary obstacles, and much of it is rooted in a choke hold of governmental overreach. It’s feeling to me like we’re moving towards the type of dystopia Orwell wrote about.
Somehow the rules that were meant to organize and make a functioning and safe society have morphed into a monster, one that thinks it has the right to completely control our lives. It increasingly behaves as thought it owns us. Ask yourself, were you born onto this planet to be owned by an entity?
The whole point of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 was to present to the reader a vision of a kind of world that we may not want. Do we? Or, don’t we? Human life (I think) will never be without challenge. But how do we envision a kind of “utopia” that is gentler and nurturing, and yet still involves enough challenge that we are energized by it, that still provides the impetus to grow? Why is our growth contingent on so much darkness? There must be a different way. I believe it is something that we have never known yet on this planet.
This may be our greatest challenge of all right now: To open our minds enough to allow for something completely new and different, not just an overhaul or cosmetic change of what we have always known. We are completely capable of creating a new reality, but only if we see what society is right now, and free ourselves enough to move beyond it.
“Utopia lies at the horizon.
When I draw nearer by two steps,
it retreats two steps.
If I proceed ten steps forward, it
swiftly slips ten steps ahead.
No matter how far I go, I can never reach it.
What, then, is the purpose of utopia?
It is to cause us to advance.”
Renowned romantic,
Romeo confessed his
love for fair Juliet,
impassioned locution
of sweet young love,
innocence unspoiled.
“How do I love thee?”
A query so complex
the Greeks declared,
“To best understand,
we must divide what
is immeasurable into
quantifiable boxes.
Ludus for flirting,
Eros for passion,
Pragma for partner,
Philia for friendship,
Storge for family,
Agape for humanity.”
A very worthy list
to be sure, and
though incomplete
does beg the question,
“With so much love,
who has time to hate?”
Eternal mystery,
our soul’s mission
often shrouded by
many false starts,
the next question
haunts us forever,
“How do I love thee better?”
Romeo, winking, says,
“You just have no fear!
Strive to love to the
depth, breadth, and height
your heart can reach.
True love is boundless.”
How Do I Love Thee Better? is an excerpt from my ebook Becoming Bigger: In a World That Wants to Keep You Small.
© Susan L Hart 2023