“Americans always do the right thing after they have exhausted all other possibilities.”
“I only believe the statistics I have faked myself.”
“Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it. Ignorance may deride it. Malice may distort it. But there it is.”
WINSTON CHURCHILL
Winston Churchill
A Thanksgiving reflection on the “Horn of Plenty” and those less fortunate.
A curious shape with open mouth and twisted tail
Spilling forth the harvest fruits as if to say,
“There is no end to the desire for more.”
Enormous even for a bearded Capra
The horn resounds with peals of plenty
To boast the efforts of the earth.
Unusual even more than name
A mouthful at that to say
Which speaks of abundance and overflowing grain.
Brought forth by Heaven-sent sun and rain.
Now rarely seen but at Autumn’s end,
Except for old images of yesteryear, and then
Today replaced by desires of mine,
No place for gratitude, I’ve not the time.
Could there be empty “horns of plenty?”
There must be, though I’ve not seen one.
Somewhere dark and empty, lonely and forgotten they must be.
Abundance lay far away, too far to see.
The image of the empty somehow calls to me.
With open mouth and dusty tail
Need cries a hungry wail
Of hopeless days for many, I see.
What would it take
To fill the empty horn?
To hear its forlorn peal
And bring a blessing to those torn?
The will to act and to abide
With gentle touch and kindly words
With struggles to understand and stand beside
The loveless and forgotten and ignored.
Yes, one of curious shape and funny name
But still it wisely whispers just the same
Amidst my stillness which I adore,
“Abundance could become… so much more.”
lem (23 Nov 16); (revised 27 Sept 19)