HUMAN BEINGS

[bigtree]

Look at your hands
your beautiful useful hands
you’re not an ape
you’re not a parrot
you’re not a slow loris
or a smart missile
you’re human
not british
not american
not israeli
not palestinian
you’re human
not catholic
not protestant
not muslim
not hindu
you’re human
we all start human
we end up human
human first
human last
we’re human
or we’re nothing
nothing but bombs
and poison gas
nothing but guns
and torturers
nothing but slaves
of Greed and War
if we’re not human
look at your body
with its amazing systems
of nerve-wires and blood canals
think about your mind
which can think about itself
and the whole universe
look at your face
which can freeze into horror
or melt into love
look at all that life
all that beauty
you’re human
they are human
we are human
let’s try to be human
dance!


by Adrian Mitchell, who died Saturday at the age of 76.

[gblady]

1. beautiful....

thank you for sharing...
thoughts on the day before death...wow!

[bigtree]

2. "Human Beings" appeared in Mitchell's collection The Shadow Knows: Poems 2000–2004

. . . as well as being displayed at England's National Space Centre.

"Human Beings" was voted the poem people would most like to see launched into space in a 2005 poll by the writing charity, The Poetry Society.

[Fireweed247]

3. wow

Thank you for that!

[acmavm]

4. Thank you.

[stillcool]

5. bittersweet..

[Mnemosyne]

6. Simple, yet so profound. Peace in your journey, Adrian Mitchell. n/t