Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Unity

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“All for one and one for all.” 
― Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers

“Pit race against race, religion against religion, 
prejudice against prejudice. Divide and conquer! 
We must not let that happen here.” 

― Eleanor Roosevelt

“If everyone helps to hold up the sky, 
then one person does not become tired.” 
― Askhari Johnson Hodari

Midweek Motif ~ Unity

How wonderful when it is true marriage (union); 

How stunning when it overcomes differences (accord);

How amazing when it is paradox  (oddly true). 

Your Challenge: Let your new poem reveal Unity.

Say I am You

     by Jelaluddin Rumi

I am dust particles in sunlight.
I am the round sun.

To the bits of dust I say, Stay.
To the sun, Keep moving.

I am morning mist, and the breathing of evening.
I am wind in the top of a grove, and surf on the cliff.

Mast, rudder, helmsman, and keel,
I am also the coral reef they founder on.

I am a tree with a trained parrot in its branches.
Silence, thought, and voice.

The musical air coming through a flute,
a spark of a stone, a flickering in metal.

Both candle and the moth crazy around it.
Rose, and the nightingale lost in the fragrance.

I am all orders of being, the circling galaxy,
the evolutionary intelligence, the lift,
and the falling away. What is, and what isn't.

You who know Jelaluddin, You the one in all,
say who I am. 

Say I am You.

The Building of the Ship

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

"Build me straight, O worthy Master!

Stanch and strong, a goodly vessel,

That shall laugh at all disaster,

And with wave and whirlwind wrestle!"

The merchant's word

Delighted the Master heard;

For his heart was in his work, and the heart

Giveth grace unto every Art.

A quiet smile played round his lips,

As the eddies and dimples of the tide

Play round the bows of ships,

That steadily at anchor ride.

And with a voice that was full of glee,

He answered, "Erelong we will launch

A vessel as goodly, and strong, and stanch,

As ever weathered a wintry sea!"

And first with nicest skill and art,

Perfect and finished in every part,

A little model the Master wrought,

Which should be to the larger plan

What the child is to the man,

Its counterpart in miniature;

. . . . 

Read the rest of this magnificent poem

HERE at the Poetry Foundation.

For those who are new to Poets United: 

• Post your new Unity poem on your site, and then link it here.
• Share only original and new work written for this challenge. 
• If you use a picture include its link.  
• Please leave a comment here and visit and comment on our poems.

(Next week Susan's Midweek Motif will be Acceptance.)