The Dividing Fence


It doesn't take much to see and to know
We are so alike in need and in deed
But if like leaves that on the green trees grow
We vary one to next from head to toe
Why so much grief does this simple fact breed?

While variance gives the Universe its worth
Men set their souls apart and fixed their altars
With diffidence and pride given at birth
About their mastery over sea and earth
Over molehills they fight till one falters 

The weakening fears ooze and stir within
The primordial preference for enmity
Though everyone knew to hurt was a sin
Only now from the atom blast begin
Panting cries of doom and calamity

Are not the ten great laws exact in claim:
Not to kill, not to covet, not to steal
And love neighbours and enemies the same
Not to decry in vain the holy name
But write stories wherein these truths reveal?

If visions of horrors have made us wise
To the losses of a world lost in time
And the jockeying for the useless prize
We would hear the sad anguish in the cries
Under the rhythms of the drumming rhyme

We must believe everything that rings true
Though alluding words may not always please
Even if the rulers tell us not to
We are braced by the grip of nature's clue
When songs are made to touch and not to tease

Thus if religions compacted as one
And avowed all the complexions of man 
We would see in the endless streaming sun
The dividing fence standing just to run
Wisteria blossoms far across the land

Rome, 21 April 2006