Michael R Burch wrote this poem under the spell of the famed “I Have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King Junior, an ardent practitioner of Gandhi’s ideology, a student and disciple of the Mahatma. Michael says that the iconic speech was like poetry to him.
Martin Luther King Mahatma Gandhi
Poet to poet
I have a dream
...pebbles in a sparkling sand...
of wondrous things.
I see children
...variations of the same man...
playing together.
Black and yellow, red and white,
... stone and flesh, a host of colours...
together at last.
I see a time
...each small child another's cousin...
when freedom shall ring.
I hear a song
...sweeter than the sea sings...
of many voices.
I hear a jubilation
... respect and love are the gifts we must bring...
shaking the land.
I have a message,
...sea shells echo, the melody rings...
the message of God.
I have a dream
...all pebbles are merely smooth fragments of stone...
of many things.
I live in hope
...all children are merely small fragments of One...
that this dream shall come true.
I have a dream!
... but when you're gone, won't the dream have to end?...
Oh, no, not as long as you dream my dream too!
Here, hold out your hand, let's make it come true.
... I can feel it begin...
Lovers and dreamers are poets too.
...poets are lovers and dreamers too...
Michael R. Burch has over 6,000 publications, including poems that have gone viral. His poems have been translated into fourteen languages and set to music by eleven composers. He also edits The HyperTexts (online at www.thehypertexts.com).
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2 replies on “A Poem for Dreamers”
It is always an honor to to be published by Borderless Journal, and especially on a page featuring two of the world’s icons of peace and justice. I wrote this poem as a boy, after hearing Dr. King’s poetic “I Have a Dream” speech and imagining a young poet, myself, engaged in a conversation with the great man, just as he once learned from Gandhi.
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It is a lovely one — much in line with Gandhi’s ideals.
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