A collective poem coordinated by Josefina Mas
“My land of golden fields; sunflowers and scented winds.
Land of odors that remind me of a childhood painted with yellow sunsets.
Rivers and seas that carry my illusions, my thoughts, and my destiny.
The calming waves of the deep blue waters give me serenity.
And as we close our eyes, we hear their movements echo into the wonderful sound of silence; It closes in on that gift that we have freely received.
We ebb and flow in synchrony, like flowers in a storm, wildly swept away. Days and nights passed with every step and every cadence, fiercely yet firmly in our ballad of light.
Don’t you believe the future is promising? The future is optimistic beyond belief.
What a relief it is to know that we are not bound by our pasts.
And it is a sentiment that we all can share.”
This poem was collectively written by 8 people from around the world. Each person was given a verse and asked to build on the one they received by writing their own. They were given no guidelines, restrictions or conditions, nor were they allowed to see the poem’s progression. Most of them don’t know each other and their identities were not shared with the rest of the group. They did not know that the verse they wrote would be shared with another writer to inspire further verses. The intention behind this was to let the poem be shaped by each person’s genuine thoughts and feelings, without any kind of external influence.
The poem was initially constructed as an experiment to find out if there is something that can be considered a “universal language”. In times of great plurality – and in many cases division – I was interested in exploring if there is an element, a philosophy, or a thought that persists across personal backgrounds, borders, ages and cultural differences. Personally, I find the end result incredibly moving. Aside from collectively having created something beautiful, the fact that the common element throughout each individual verse was nature – natural elements and imagery – stood out to me. Without being presented with the objective of the poem, each writer chose to express their thoughts through their experiences of nature.
Without delving too deeply into the methodological flaws of the experiment and without trying to universalize its results, I found it greatly comforting to see how organically nature emerged as the binding element throughout the individual verses. Regardless of how we experience it, it seems to be that which best encapsulates what we carry inside us; the beauty of our inner thoughts and feelings. It is the language that we can use to truly see each other, beyond the differences that separate us at face value. We are all bound by nature in a physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual sense. We can always count on our shared belonging to this Earth to bring us together. To remind us of our common origin and our common destiny.
Thank you to Malena Jabibi (Argentina), Joaquín Guerra (Argentina), Robin Fakes (Netherlands/Jordan), Paolo Daviè (Italy), Jena Espelita (Philippines), Mohamed Adam (Kenya), Nsungwe (Zambia) for your friendship and contributions!
Original:
Mi tierra de campos dorados; girasoles y vientos perfumados
Tierra de aromas que recuerdan a mi infancia, teñida de amarilla atardecer
Rios y mares que llevan mi ilusión, mi pensamiento y mi destino
The calming waves of the deep blue waters give me serenity.
E chiudendo gli occhi il loro movimento riecheggia fino al giungere del meraviglioso suono del silenzio che si chiude in uno sguardo, su quel dono che gratuitamente abbiamo ricevuto.
We ebb and flow in synchrony, like flowers in a storm, wildly swept away
Days and nights passed with every step and every cadence, fiercely yet firmly in our ballad of light
Don’t believe that the future is promising? the future is optimistic beyond belief
What a relief it is to know that we are not bound by our pasts,
And it is a sentiment that we all can share.
