The Redeeming Feature – Poem by Jonquille Berry

The world looks on, as well it might.
Unseeing and unhearing, though the sadness and strife
Fuel our expectation and dread
Of daunting, destructive expertise.

A childish preference for certain philistine elements
Spells disaster for our status quo.
Though fear produces threatening unease
We ignore the obvious and, at our peril,
Erode all that we ever held dear.

By simply accepting a more noble path
Man may end his hapless plight.
By embracing brotherhood with a clarity
Long delayed, he looks to the place
Where the raging inferno is no more.

An eloquence bourne of longing
Fills the chasm of empty thought.
As dearly bought, awakened courage
Shall disperse the mounting despair
That loveless ambition had wrought.

• Jonquille Berry