They told me
The world was lost -
Hopelessly divided and torn apart
By the passions of cruel men;
By evil men who spoke alien tongues,
Who would never understand
One another's wants.
I looked out
On the world around
And saw men of many nations and climes
Speaking many strange languages;
With manners and customs of many kinds.
Opinions and beliefs,
Principles and doctrines.
And I said,
"Yes, it is true.
Man is helplessly divided and torn apart
By a generation of cruel men--
By evil men who can only speak evil
Of one another,
And another's wants."
But then I heard
On a still night
A great symphony of instruments playing,
With delicate scales and rhythms,
With sweeping, massive chords and harmonies,
A moving hymn
And a quiet cadence.
I knew what it was -
A Bach chorale.
And it spoke to me a word of kindness,
I thought of comfort and encouragement.
I knew that men everywhere could hear it -
And hearing, understand
Its moving message.
It could have been
Any other chorus,
Or any other composer's creative masterpiece:
A Gregorian chant, a Tallis madrigal,
A Handel oratorio, A Beethoven symphony,
Or Aaron Copland,
Or Shostakovitch.
The notes we know
And knowing, comprehend:
Whether they come from Germany or France
Or China or Israel, Poland, or Greece
Or Scotland or Italy, Russia or Sweden,
England, Hungary,
Or the Americas.
They speak as one -
A Universal language:
A grand tone-poem with a melodious leit-motif
Of unity close binding all the tribes of men:
Of harmony beneath the surface of clattering dissonance
Man's one-ness
With fellow-man.
And over all -
The God of all.
Eternal Father - called by many Names.
He has made of one blood all the nations:
One race - the living human race -
One universal lineage
Under Almighty God.
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Created: April 20, 1996
Last updated: Nov. 28, 2010