037 – Human Community

Megan Moses

Mixed Media on board
94.5 x 33.5 cm

One day, you and I will meet for the first time
And find ourselves standing there, awkward and shy

How about if,
Before we begin making conversation
Trying to impress each other
Trying to assess each other
Connecting and disconnecting on the basis of similarity and difference
Comparing our opinions on everything there is

How about if,
Before we force each other into arbitrary categories based on politics, religion or race
Before judgements consolidate in our minds, etched as if in a stone
And a stance is taken, are you friend or foe?
Before all that bullshit, that compare and contrast
That inevitable barricade between your soul and mine

How about if,
We first pause – and look into each other’s eyes
With our hearts still unarmoured
And our faces not yet assembled into masks
Let’s stay in this moment of not knowing
Grant each other access to who we really are

How about if,
You recognise in me, as I recognise in you, that for all our seeming differences
The life force in you is the life force in me
The breath you exhale is the breath I breathe in
And our beating hearts are drums
Whose thumping rhythm is sustained by the same Drummer

How about if,
Rather than moving from the outside in, we go the other way, instead
Let’s start deep inside, at the heart
And long before we reach the skin in its many varied colours
We will have traversed a universe of commonality so vast
That any differences between us will seem irrelevant. Irreverent.

How about if,
We remember that
There was a time, not long ago, when neither you nor I existed
And that time will come again, all too soon
What a waste to use our differences, as a trumpet call to war
Let’s let everything we have in common be our meeting ground instead.