Pandemic, Violence, Homelessness, Poverty, Racial Divide, Geopolitical Tension, Food Insecurity, Jobless, Loneliness and Abuse. Each and everyone is a sad story. For those affected there seems to be no end in sight. For those of us who are aware, the media, society constantly bombard us and our senses need a reprieve. It is here with words from artists, including our own Sebastian. Take a moment and relax, while pondering their inspiration for a better world.
- Let America Be America Again
- Langston Hughes
Let America be America again,
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed
Let it be that great strong land of love.
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath
But opportunity is real, and life is free.
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me.
Nor freedom in this "Homeland of the free.)
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay -
Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America be America again -
The land that never has been get -
And get must be - the land where (every) man is free.
The land that's mine, the poor man's, Indians, Negro's, Me -
Who made America
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose -
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath -
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster dead,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers,
The mountains and the endless plain -
All, all the stretch of these great green lakes -
And make America again!
- No Title
- Sr. Celeste Hupert, CSFN
Mercy of God I trust in Thee
These times we live in are
Now not so free
Mercy of God, we call upon you
forgive us our sins
Our hearts renew
Mercy of God through your lfe
We are saved because
You conquered our strife
Mercy of God we plead with you
Stop this coronavirus
The earth renew
Mercy of God we trust in you
Given new life in us
Let your light shine through
Mercy of God fill us with peace
Peace within and your love
May in us forever increase.
- The Spirit Around Us
- Sebastian (from unpublished work, Reuniting the Unknown).
As you read, whether you believe or not, take this moment
in silence to remember all those who gave all for all of us...
Do any of us have the right to cease any voice, any breath?
We give thanks when there is calm,
To show appreciation.
To add a positive force.
To take disturbance as an opportunity,
To channel our emotions for positive energy,
To the spirit.
And no matter if we breakdown life
Into its smallest matter scientifically
Or create it physically, whether we look
Within or about us, the source of our
Consciousness feels its power.
- Thomas Jefferson
" If the American people ever allow private banks (read Federal Reserve)
to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation,
the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will
deprive the people of all property until their children
wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered..."
- Aeschylus
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God.
