"a world without nuclear weapons" (2)

People of Prague: first blessed
with words we --
forgot were -- permitted -- to be
spoken aloud
by presidents --

How I wish that I
were of you,
face leaning forward into the words’ warmth,
eyes closed in the crowd --
that much closer to news
that salves a weary
world with reason.

A lank man unfolds himself
on a dais
the words that need to be
said already resounding
inside him
reverberating outward ten
thousand faces willing the
words to unfurl themselves
from his grave lips, from
decades lost
to pinched Big Men
who called peace
a chintzy knick knack,
and bloated themselves on our despair
and our consent.

No. We knew somehow. Peace is the courage
to live, expansively,
within the smallness of what is –
and in doing so,
expanding what is.

Oh that I were you, every one
of you at once -- that I could hear
the words from 10,000 angles, see
from every side the lank
man unfold
unafraid
unfurl what we’ve passed in
folded pinched notes
all along -- displaying its glory
finally
to the sun.

Those dark blades quiver restless
upturned in -- tranquil earth --
rumor-fuelled and -fitted --
rustling with omens yet;
radar eyes respire, sifting
quiet clouds
for – portents!

Oh people of Prague,
rapturous city where
reason radiated forth –
I savor the news with you.
Preserve the days’ brightness
for me, within you --
there where a spare man
dared, and strode.

Should he forget that day -- or buckle --
we millions of millions
will shout
to shiver the silos
and make the radars blink.