A New Romanticism

DESPITE IT ALL

Despite it all.
Despite the snarling ravenous tendency
Seeming hell-bent on self-destruction,
Despite our blind abuse of the environment,
Despite fears about the ozone layer,
Despite overpopulation and the spread
Of old and new diseases, these and those,
That are all population related,
Despite our world imploding upon itself
Forcing heads to swoon and hearts to break
Over the world that we’re creating.

Even still there’s room for songs
To bring light among the darkness.

Let noxious rivers flow between eroded banks
And oceans fill with spilled pollution.
Even still these songs can sing.

Give to the air no breathing room
So flowers bloom choking.
Even still songs can sing.

Spread farther, wider, deeper, louder,
Higher, and more frantic and fantastic
The influence of man
Until we can’t see our image without a grimace,
But songs are still singing.

Up from the soil comes the tunes
Rooted in our various problems and paradoxes;
Flowering, full bloom, into resolutions
Delighting the eye and our other senses.

Up then, singers, awaken and sound the alarm.
Our need is great so let our songs
Spread wide upon the fields
And travel the vast territories over the oceans.

And yet will any song do?
Will any rime set itself to curative resonations?

Heavy world, diabolical.
Great reservoir of griefs and woes,
Worries and fears, that can and do
Shock the mind, stun it,
Sending us all scurrying away, fleeing;
Dashing hopes, crushing dreams,
Finding us all in our own way cringing.

But I bethink our condition again thinking
How greater powers are at work here
Than that monster multitude of competitive greedy strivings
That clog the veins of our body proper.
Bright star in the heavens!
Ineffable rumblings stirring below!
Gentle stream singing a joyful water song
From the banks of our own bodies;
Pouring life giving moisture
Into the vessels of our resourcefulness and creativity.
Let’s drink; let’s bathe in this common pool
Bubbling up here among us.

Despite our many mistakes.
Despite our ignorance.
Despite the fear, anxiety, doubt, and confusion
Making many people think the whole thing impossible.

Can anything be done?
Are we allowed to do it?
Is it safe to try ourselves with these problems?
Will there be any rewards for the effort?

Then despite our answers.
Despite the questions.
Despite what is or might be or can be
Or should be or could be.
Despite it all songs remain
The field for our resolutions.