And would life start in such agony
And fade away in such fear?
Would they,
From the trembling hands of saintly Adem,
In front of his frozen eyes,
Snatch his daughter Samira
And with a blade
Take out her eyes.
If he existed,
Would such mighty human mind
Commit barbarian atrocities against people
And withdraw before the instincts of the insane?
Would it be possible
For a maniac to rule the planet,
And in the strategy of perverse abuse,
The lives of the innocent, the good, and the clever
To account for nothing.
If he existed,
Would the principle of dominance govern evolution,
That merciless way of climbing and devouring,
And would every inch of human progress
Choke in the sea of pain and tears?
Would he create such an order of things
In which profiteers sit on the backs of miners and shepherds
And in which the weapons of the mighty
Dismember the bodies of the weak
On their doorsteps!?
Would he demand that they pray to him on their knees
In dark dwellings,
That they drink human blood in his name,
Leeches,
And that they tyrannize the human soul,
And open the mind to questionable values ?
And that they rejoice when shouting
That the children of nationally mixed parentage are hybrids
And God’s creations lacking identity!?
AUTUMN
drop to drop
a river, a fury
of a thousand blue blades
with an icy shriek in its hair
silence in whiteness
bundles of hot sheaves
wailing
amid cracks stone flowers
bawling
above, gossamer chill brings dew
a rumble with bread at its core
across fields an abundant autumn
burns in straw-colored despair
with traces of tears in its eyes
PATHS
In the early morning, I met a breath of sunlight
On its magical journey
Along the path
Beyond our senses,
And I understood the whispering of quinces in blossom
In early spring,
And giggling girls blooming prematurely
Somewhere in the East,
In the fragrant hills of my beginnings.
Somewhere from the East
Fading car-lights enter
My pupils
And go
Towards some still sleeping Western harbors.
Oh, how they rush
From East to West
And nervously wait in front of traffic-lights!
At somebody’s words
My thoughts dither,
Recalling David Suzuki’s prophesy
That the breath of the sun’s light will be ever darker
In our eyes.
Those who go from West to East
Quest by instinct
Through foaming waves to reach the narcotic unknown.
Those others
In the procession
In the opposite direction
Rock on the smooth waves of illusion
And sail over the luminous horizon.
With its magic brush,
The evening sun purpled the snow
On tops of the western mountains
And lured the eyes of curious fishes
Onto the surface of the big water.
Someplace north,
On some frosty island,
A fever gaze of the poet Terry Gucker
Discovered fear in the eyes of ever-warmer glaciers.
Northern lights called on me in the evening
Above Vancouver,
And performed a dance of some strange life
Stolen from my imagination.
In this transition to a new age, as well poets dream
And force some new designs
Into the skillful hands of the seamstresses of our senses.
Third Part
GALACTIC BELONGING IS MORE IMPORTANT TO ME
THAN TRIBAL TRADITIONS
Her face had an expression of glad tidings when I met her at the Vancouver airport at approximately midnight, five years after the incomprehensibly destructive attack on the New York World Trade Center skyscrapers. Five years after the event that the history of civilization will perennially write about in its Believe It or Not columns. Half a decade had passed since a handful of cave people from the dry desert of the Near East had dealt a heavy destructive blow to the strongest power in the world on its own territory at the beginning of the third millennium after Christ, or Issa Prophet. It was then, using the darkest of methods, that it was proven that the strongest power in the world is not safe, and is surrounded by hatred. This was the only real blow to be dealt America since her foundation. But, not the five years that have passed, nor the encyclopedic recitation of countless facts about people attacking each other; not the news on the Internet that the American occupation forces, forces of destructive revenge, have assisted in the massive plundering of artistic works from Baghdad’s libraries and art galleries, the theft and destruction of millions of irreplaceable books and manuscripts from that part of the world known as the cradle of civilization; not the news broadcasts from independent world media stating that, in three years of war in Iraq provoked by the open American-British aggression against the sovereign regime of the dictator Saddam Hussein, more than 650,000 Iraqis had perished, even though Bush Junior insisted that only 50,000 had died … None of this was more important to me, at the moment when I looked into the mass of travelers, than the mystery of her softly smiling face.
She looked determined. She insisted, with the strength of her exceptional will power, that even though it was after midnight, and even though she had traveled six hours by plane from Honolulu, and in spite of her better than eighty-year age, she was not tired. Her characteristic smile, unlike Mona Lisa’s, did not carry in itself the mystery of centuries, but nonetheless did not make known what was hidden in the comet-tail brightness it shone through the weak light of Arrivals. I often felt confused when I tried to define that smile. Lady Gem always escaped my characterizations of her personality. Even now, after who knows how many times, as I re-read my notes about my meeting with her, and her talk with Stephen Hawking in my name, I am in two minds whether or not I should change her nickname in the text for someone else’s, for the name of some woman who hadn’t wronged me with a cruel injustice. But I won’t go there. When I put her kindness toward me on one side of the scale, together with my affection for her, it outweighs the other side, the injustice she once did me. Lady Gem embodies all the good qualities that forever characterize good people. Perhaps that is why I think that in memories one should always nurture acts of kindness and love, and that one should always banish evil and hatred into one of Hawking’s black holes, so that they can never return.
“In Honolulu, it took them three hours to discover that the airport scanner had shown an unusually shaped pancreas in a woman’s abdomen, and not some kind of hidden mine to blow up the plane,” Lady Gem told me as soon as we met, as if she was afraid that she would forget mention this story if our conversation began with the usual greetings. “The world has definitively been overcome with fear of terrorists. It will take decades of following a good, intellectually led path for civilization to recover peace and calm among
people.”
Lady Gem said this about the subject I had been pondering while I was waiting for her. If I did not know her, I would have added that the American president, Bush Junior, was playing an ugly role, for he had quickened the trend toward world-wide hatred of America, reversing the former sentiment that America was the hope of our civilization. He had accelerated the onset of a future this superpower had in store for itself anyway, because human beings cannot overcome the instinct to dominate and the instinct to conquer when they get hold of power and money. However, I let this comment pass over silently, as I knew that Lady Gem is right-wing, and profit is as important to her as it is to America, and that she thinks hegemony is the best method of survival within earthly circumstances. According to her, I am mistaken in my belief that America could have conquered the world with kindness and not with military force. Everything that I told her when we met and in the car on the way to her home in West Vancouver is unimportant. She, obviously, endeavored to reward my long wait for her at the airport in a way that would make me happy.
“I managed to get hold of Hawking. Stephen is phenomenal. He is a vital intellect. A scientist and prophet whom one should trust. There is no need to wait for centuries to pass so that time will prove his thoughts correct. I felt sorry for him when I caught sight of him and felt the pain of his bodily destitution. So animated in front of me, he seemed like a being fashioned from a small percentage of natural human material and a large percentage of that which humanity has manufactured. But, as soon as we started talking, I stopped feeling sorry for him. I immediately grasped that, although I am physically much bigger than this diminutive person, my larger body stood no chance at all in comparison to his intellect.”
On Granville Street our conversation was drowned out by the roaring sirens of two enormous fire engines and several ambulances, which I found increasingly intolerable. I often think that this shrieking of emergency vehicles does more harm to healthy people than it helps those whom they are hurrying to save. At home we were greeted by a small, excited poodle who jumped up at Lady Gem. It is a toy she-poodle named Mine. Lady Gem took out a paper from her small suitcase and, handing it to me, proposed:
“I brought you the Hawaiian Declaration to read. If you’re not tired, sit and wait while I change out of these clothes so that I can tell you about Hawking. Mine would like to keep us company.”
This was courteous flummery, since Lady Gem knew that her meeting in Honolulu meant much more to me than sleeping, and that the tiny poodle was at least as charming to me as a blanket and, perhaps, ugly dreams. Mine lay down on the couch beside me and looked at the paper in my hand as if to suggest that I read it. The document was more necessary to me than I was to the poodle, so I took up Mine’s suggestion. Sometimes in our decisions just one particle of dust turns the balance of our sensibility and uncertainty.
The first sentences of this document at once reminded me of documents of the Organization of Nonaligned Nations. A human attempt with a lot of naiveté! Before long, I blamed my own cynical thoughts, as I began to inhale the heavy and powerful scent of happiness that people had at last decided to extend a definitive hand of welcome to representatives of extraterrestrial civilizations. There are written proofs of visits to our planet by extraterrestrial vehicles from the very beginning of our literacy to today, especially during the period of my life. There have been several times when I myself have had the good fortune to see the flying machines that have visited us. Because of that, the Declaration formulated in the Hawaiian archipelago in 2006 was my document, too. Nonetheless, the truth is that in my opinion it is not precise enough in its characterization of human beings.
To: Citizens of the World
Hawaii Declaration on Peaceful Relations with Extraterrestrial Civilizations
“A New World If You Can Take It”
We, the individuals and institutions participating in and/or supporting the Extraterrestrial Civilizations & World Peace Conference in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, June 9-11, 2006,
Are a body of concerned private citizens who are promoting world peace and harmonious relations with extraterrestrial civilizations,
Recognizing the overwhelming evidence pointing to the presence of extraterrestrial civilizations, and their generally peaceful interaction with individuals and governmental authorities,
Inspired by the profound significance for humanity of sharing the wisdom, knowledge, culture and technology provided by extraterrestrial civilization.
Asserting that extraterrestrial civilizations have been observing human evolution for some time with particular interest in humanity’s quest for lasting peace among its peoples,
Noting that extraterrestrial civilizations have indicated that the abolishment of nuclear weapons worldwide is a necessary milestone toward peaceful coexistence on earth and as a prerequisite for open contact,
Recalling United Nations resolutions concerning international co-operation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, banning atmospheric and underwater nuclear tests, and proscribing hostile acts on the moon and other celestial bodies,
Recognizing a range of initiatives promoted by private citizens and citizen organizations with regard to extraterrestrial civilizations visiting Earth,
Intending for this Declaration to be used as a starting point for a greater public dialogue with those holding similar or diverging perspectives and interests concerning extraterrestrial visitation,
Using a consensual decision making process among speakers, organizers, and participants at the Extraterrestrial Civilizations and World Peace Conference, 2006, we have agreed to,
Honor the following principles for establishing peaceful relations with extraterrestrial civilizations:
1. We affirm the intent of humanity to join in peaceful and cooperative relations with extraterrestrial civilizations,
2. Affirm support for United Nations resolutions promoting the peaceful use of Outer Space, and support for UN, International and U.S. Congressional initiatives to prevent an arms race in outer space, including the weaponization of space,
3. Affirm the natural right of all citizens to have open contact with representatives of extraterrestrial civilizations in all cases, and to engage in non-official diplomacy,
4. Declare the need for Civil Society to develop acceptable protocols (standards of behavior) with extraterrestrial civilizations, that the protocols should be representative of the aspirations of all humanity, and that all nations should work in concert to establish peaceful relations,
5. Cooperate with extraterrestrial civilizations in promoting Earth, Cosmic and Life friendly technologies, and encouraging the right use and open availability of these technologies,
6. Affirm our desire to coordinate the earth’s ecological health and biological diversity with extraterrestrial civilizations that can aid us in that endeavour,
7. And express our desire to welcome the open appearance of benevolent extraterrestrial civilizations.
“They translated it into hundreds of the world’s languages and wrote it in several non-verbal symbologies, with the intention of sending it into space using various methods,” Lady Gem said about the text of the Declaration when she appeared in a mildly rose-colored housecoat.
I protested, “It’s not sufficiently sincere and does not warn those who come to us from space how dangerous people are. But I think that they are not naïve and that they will not lightly enter into contact with people. In fact, they haven’t done this so far because they have enough evidence of our aggressiveness and evil deeds against our own biological kind. It is enough for them to know that in our civilization, from the First World War to the beginning of the third millennium, we have had around 100 smaller and larger wars and that in these approximately 160 million humans have perished, and more than 500 million have been either seriously or slightly wounded. Is there a larger crime or disgrace in our galaxy?”
“Hawking said a similar thing to me. As far as I coul
d grasp it, he is not an optimist when the subject is the open cooperation of extraterrestrial civilizations with us. He weaves everything including God into this, which greatly surprised and disappointed me. Such a mind, which has succeeded in hypothesizing the dimensions of the universe, the beginning and the end of everything, and he gives in to the manipulations of religious institutions.” Lady Gem was becoming angry.
“I think he meant that there are forces which arrange relations within the cosmos, and not, literally, a God in the religious sense as it is used here on Earth”, I said.
“It’s not important. In fact, it is important, but … That is a human disgrace. Stephen is a good proof. Some people are afraid of giving up traditions because they think that they will end up without an identity. My identity is not that which my father left me as an inheritance, but that which I do and choose. For some, conservatism is the very essence of morals. Within the framework of this shell of the past, some feel safe, saved, God-pleasing, as if God, as they imagine him, had not arranged the cosmos so that the previous second has nothing in common with the second that comes after. If there really is anything in the cosmos that is not conservative, then that is God. Suppose that people in their beliefs imagined God in the way Hawking sees cosmos. Then the strictest dogma would be that of perpetual movement and change. Stephen Hawking’s studies of the cosmos are an exceptional base and support for a revision of religion.”
She searched my eyes, and then winked teasingly, knowing that I knew what she was going to say – because she’d said it so many times before.
“Even I would, perhaps, follow them if they regularly updated their learning. Shall we have a Stolichnaya with cranberry juice?” she asked, plucking at the plumes of Mine’s shaggy tail.
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