27 Literature As A Way of Life

The philosophy of old cannot hold; in humanity is the key to all:
wisdom and guidance, confusion and folly.
In the coming time, where will we find our guide?
Will truth be found in the language of literature?
Science has turned to war; perhaps it is our stories, in the end, that
we must share and others’ stories we must hold space for
to be a light and guide us back to the contemplation of peace.
Our histories must inform our harmony,
for without a past well understood, our futures will be barren.
Our children’s children will wrestle with our choices,
Wondering: who were they to decide for me?
They will rise up and become the guides we have sought,
eventually to do what, out of fear, we could not.
Humanity is the key to all;
inside us each rests the cipher of being’s mystery.

(in collaboration with Bethany Zilligen)