I Feel the Heartbeat of the World

A call to remember the universal kinship of all peoples.

I feel the heartbeat of the world
In my chest today
And hear the hard-won labored breaths
Of all my people.
Across continents,
Reaching into every race, culture and creed,
My kinship runs:
Blood of spirit thicker than water of conquered land.

Like arrows, my thoughts fly:
To Africa, where my sister lays down her life for her child
To Arabia, where my brothers war, an age-old family feud
To Jerusalem where my aunts and cousins,
Grandchildren and nephews,
Converge to worship in all our family traditions.

How did I come to remember
What my kin have forgotten:
That from the same seed we were born,
Scattered by harsh winds to distant lands
That taught us to forget
We were one.

Please, my family,
Return to the land of our ancestors,
Where love always challenged us to heal our differences,
And no one was cast out
For what they believed or did.

Remember when we ate together and prepared feasts
Worthy of the finest kings?
Remember when we shared our wealth
And lifted up the weary and poor among us?
Remember when our only fight was with the gods
Who turned the seasons
According to our devotion or disobedience,
And our enemies were the ferocious beasts
That struck in the night?

When half our numbers perished in the great floods
And so many of the young
Were slain by unseen hands,
Did we not rebuild and reclaim
Our union with each other and the earth?
And when the stars flashed out and fire lit the sky,
Did we not draw strength from each other's company,
Saying, "This will pass"?

We have grown to such numbers now
We have forgotten that in each one is found the code
That tells us we are family.
If half of us perish now by the new gods' seasons
Or by nature's hand,
Will we remember?
And if the remaining half is cleaved in two,
What then?
And if again only half remain,
How long before we are a small enough number
To claim each other as kin again?

May the gods be merciful
And arson's fire be quelled.
I fear we have to shrink to Noah's number
Just to find each other again
And welcome all of our lost kin home.