Welcome to 2012

So many say it's now the year
of unalterable transformation,
and no matter if we freeze in fear
or fight inevitability,
everything we've been must change
from what we used to be
as every truth we've ever learned
turns out to be a lie,
and what we thought would keep us safe,
like power, wealth, and weaponry,
or galloping technology,
or religious eschatology,
betrays a woeful ignorance,
clinging to ancestral barbarity
when Life demands rebirth.

And while all of that may be untrue,

I embrace the dream of peace on Earth.

Then let us each be merciful,

let each of us be kind.
Let old wounds be confessed and healed
by prayerful, meditating minds
seeking to cooperate
so all are clothed and housed and fed,
and one humanity on Earth
may live in harmony instead
of age-old rape and slaughter
when we just make that conscious choice
to understand our neighbor.