I'm not a big fan of TV except maybe Jeopardy or Wheel of fortune, where I watch as a stimulator for my memory. I was intrigued, however, as two of my kids excitedly told me all the great documentaries that I am missing on History and Discovery channels, and so I decided to give it a try. I happened to catch the very hyped story of the end of the Mayan calendar, set to take place in 2012. There were theologians and scientists revealing gloom and doom facts and speculations that were nothing short of sensationalistic. If you felt no fear before watching the show, it was sure to draw you into the fear that something catastrophic was in the works. Images of nuclear explosions and natural disasters were planted with the ancient rhymes of Nostradamus, as well as passages of revelations from the Bible, all of which seemed to shout annihilation and doom. It became rather silly after a while and as I thought about the image that kept flashing, which showed a man holding an empty book, a lion and a lamb, and two women, I got to thinking. What if, instead of a disaster, all this hinted about the end of a belief system. Empty book: end of religion; lion and lamb together: no war; and two women: end of a patriarchal society. And so my poem surfaced, as a dream of hope:
2012: Apolcalyptic Vision
The lion is lying
in respectful repose,
as best he can...
tamed, quieted.
The lamb is nibbling,
alert, learned,
in the fresh newness
of the Spring.
The tide has shifted,
the pages of man's wisdom
are washed away.
In the dawn of the new era,
the gentle breezes
caress, nurture;
a cycle is completed.
She has come at last
to her rightful reign!
No death march here,
just an expressive dance,
coaxing the pages of a
new chapter.
