A Brave and Startling Truth
By MayaAngelou
Dedicatedto the hopefor peace,which lies,sometimeshidden,in everyheart.
We.the people.on a smalland lonelyplanet
Travelingthroughcasualspace
Pastaloofstars.acrossthe way of indifferentsuns
To a destinationwhereall signstell us
It is possibleand imperativethat we learn
A braveand startlingtruth
And whenwe cometo it
To the dayof peacemaking
Whenwe releaseour fingers
Fromfists of hostility
And allowtbe pureair to cool our palms
Whenwe cometo it
Whenthe curtainfalls on the minstrelshowof hate
And facesootedwith scornarescrubbedclean
Whenbattlefieldsand coliseum
No longerrakeour uniqueand particularsonsand
daughters
Up with bruisedand bloodygrass
To lie in identicalplotsin foreignsoil
Whenthe rapaciousstormingof the churches
The screaming racketin the templeshaveceased
Whenthe pennantsarewavinggaily
Whenthe bannersof the world tremble
Stoudyin the good,cleanbreeze
Whenwe cometo it
Whenwe let the rifles fall from our shoulders
And the childrendresstheir dollsin flagsof truce
Whenlandminesof deathhavebeenremoved
And the agedcanwalk into evenings of peace
Whenreligiousritual is not perfumed
By the incenseof burningflesh
And childhooddreamsarenot kickedawake
By nightmares of abuse
When we come to it
Then we will confess that not the Pyramids
With their stones set in mysterious perfection
Nor the Gardens of Babylon
Hanging as eternal beauty
In our collective memory
Not the Grand Canyon
Kindled into delicious color
By Western sunsets
Nor the Danube.flowing its blue soul into Europe
Not the sacredpeakof Mount Fuji
Stretchingto the RisingSun
Neither FatherAmazonnor Mother Mississippi
who.without.favor,
Nurturesall creatures
in the depthsandon the shores
Thesearenot the onlywondersof the world
Whenwe cometo it
We,this people,on this minusculeandkithlessglobe .,i
Who reachdailyfor the bomb,the bladeandthe
dagger i
Vet who petitionin the darkfor tokensof peace
We,this people,on this moteof matter
In whosemouthsabidecankerous words
Whichchallenge our veryexistence
Vet out of thosesamemouths
Comesongsof suchexquisitesweetness
That the heartfaltersin its labor
And the bodyis quietedinto awe
We,this people,on this smallanddrifting planet
Whosehandscan strikewith suchabandon
That, in a twinkling,life is sappedfrom the living
Vet thosesamehandscantouchwith suchhealing.
irresistibletenderness,
That the haughtyneckis happyto bow
And the proudbackis gladto bend
Out of suchchaos,of suchcontradiction
We learnthat we areneitherdevilsnor divines
Whenwe cometo it
We,this people,on this wayward,floatingbody
Createdon this earth,of this earth
Havethe powerto fashionfor this earth
A climatewhereeverymanand everywoman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety I
Without crippling fear I
When we come to it
We must confessthat we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That it when, and only when
We come to it.