Just How Brilliant

“Just how brilliant are you?”
I asked him.
For I'd watched his elegant mind
Open to speak forth amazing science,
Yet his wisdom was always kind.
It invited thought so gently
That, before you really knew,
Your thoughts had joined his and carried
The formulae all the way through
To the twelfth and final derivative,
To a place where you could see the light,
And peace and joy at the understanding
Might cause your faith to be sight.
And yet his words were not pointed.
They would never be ones to bring harm—
Never critical or harsh,
Never any fear or alarm.

And he told me then
That he'd died once.
His body had floated above
To a place where all the answers lived ever,
To a place so filled with love
That his heart had been healed forever,
And he’d seen from a higher plane:
All humans connected as family,
All sprung forth from the same
Living source of eternal life,
And all from no matter what color or creed,
In the same great ship of humanity
And the ship is prone to sink.

But if we can empathize,
Anger will cease.
And if we cooperate,
Jealousy cease,
And if we can rise above ourselves,

And our cheap competitions,
We can have peace,
And the joy of the earth will return.

 

-jenn long