Imagine the political transformation that this glorious poem might wreak, if it were widely read and acted on...:
Keeping Quiet By Pablo Neruda
Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.
This one time upon the earth,
let's not speak any language,
let's stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.
It would be a delicious moment,
without hurry, without locomotives,
all of us would be together
in a sudden uneasiness.
The fishermen in the cold sea
would do no harm to the whales
and the peasant gathering salt
would look at his torn hands.
Those who prepare green wars,
wars of gas, wars of fire,
victories without survivors,
would put on clean clothing
and would walk alongside their brothers
in the shade, without doing a thing.
What I want shouldn't be confused
with final inactivity:
life alone is what matters,
I want nothing to do with death.
If we weren't unanimous
about keeping our lives so much in motion,
if we could do nothing for once,
perhaps a great silence would
interrupt this sadness,
this never understanding ourselves
and threatening ourselves with death,
perhaps the earth is teaching us
when everything seems to be dead
and then everything is alive.
Now I will count to twelve
and you keep quiet and I'll go.
Dr. Rupert Read, Reader in the UEA School of Philosophy, Vice-Chair of the Green House thinktank, lead Green Party MEP candidate in the East of England in the 2014 European elections, and national Green Party Transport Spokesperson.
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http://twitter.com/GreenRupertRead [my 'politician' account] &
http://twitter.com/RupertRead [my 'personal' account].
www.rupertread.net
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