Everyman came to town today: <br />Didn't roll in effortlessly by the wide white route, <br />But came the long and narrow way round, <br />The only way round <br />Via the hard ground: <br />Via Montgomery, <br />Via adversity and history: <br />Via Dolorosa, <br />Nunc Via Gloriosa. <br /> <br />He looked like me – <br />Though we share nothing remotely <br />In the way of height or weight, <br />Neither colour nor race. <br />Still we looked the same <br />In the singular mirror of that moment. <br /> <br />He resounded in me; <br />Struck a chord so deep below the waterline <br />I felt sea speak to sea <br />And hope's high tide of possibility <br />Drown dither and doubt and float free <br />A whole fleet of opportunity <br />To catch the winds of change <br />That wait beyond the lee of party politics and nationality. <br /> <br />Friends, though we've never met <br />And almost certainly never will <br />Outside those quiet places of the soul <br />Where we share and dare wonder <br />Who, how, what if and why not, <br />I hope he'd recognise me, on sight: <br />I'm not of the US, <br />But I am of the kind of 'us' <br />That is ready for the kind of United States of Mind <br />He has in mind.<br /><br />Tony Jolley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ecce-everyman/
