Such Beauty from Ashes

and we are singing our hearts out, and

our souls are in our eyes,

and they are beautiful souls.

they are souls of truth.

they are souls of love.

they are souls of faith.

they are souls of hope.

and we have conquered a little corner in the

world of fear.

and we have stepped up and forward,

and we have torn down walls.

we have smashed sound barriers between us.

we have dared again and again and yet again to dream,

and our dreams have finally taken material form.

we have changed our hearts.

we have altered and changed our minds,

and because of this, we now have some

valor and strength,

and we are threatening to change the world.

that it might be a better place.

For us and for all god’s children.

for all that we are.

for all that we might be

we have done it.

And we rise now as one voice, with many harmonies,

Through the mystery and beauty of harmony.

One voice

Though many, for one, for all.

For all the earth to grow and know,

From the mounds of ashes of our dead, our martyred,

Our lambs, our sacrificed, those who died and have been dead

So long, so long they are no more than, nor any less than,

Sacred memories. Mountains of ashes, of our sweet, beloved,

Beautiful dead.

Today, what beauty we now have, to gain strength from to continue on,

Beauty,

From ashes.

Notes:

Unpublished poem dated 2009. Reproduced with permission of Nina Rodgers Gordon.

This poem is part of the portfolio “Carolyn Marie Rodgers: What Beauty We Now Have” from the October 2022 issue.

Source: Poetry (October 2022)