Set the world on fire

 Set the world on fire

Way back when I was still in school around the age
of about oh let's just say it was a long time ago when
I was a lot younger than I am today, back when I still
believed in real true love, truth, justice, and even the
American way, when nothing but love and a childish
innocence was all that I had along with possibly
a slightly skewed sense of what was right and what
was wrong. I was only just a young man who happened
to believe still in what freedom is supposed to be and
the American flag, even the Office of the President no
matter who was filling it, I guess maybe
looking back, I was what they called a dreamer always
believing I could, for some reason or another, make
things a little better but I know now back then my head
was stuck somewhere up in the clouds as I filled it
full up with unrealistic expectations of who or what I
would be when I grew up. But I know now all of those
thoughts were really more like delusions of grandeur.
just a child make believing, I wanted so much to change
the world for you and I that I could stand on a pulpit
delivering my sermon like a minister in church on a
Sunday morning talking about fire and brimstone I
thought that if I could somehow in some way make
people listen to what I had to say or read what I had
written that I would set this
world on fire by leaving my mark on humankind as I
set that bar higher for my very
own children or the next generation to grasp on to so
that they could continue to make this world a far better
off place, then we found it to make a difference
in the status quo so to say, to somehow in some way
heal a little of this broken world and add back some
humanity to it instead of trying to always destroy it.
But how quickly did I see that all of those dreams were
only just that, they were only my hopes and for
what I found was this world that we all live in together is
dying, a little more every day and through all of the
hate and violence that we as a people have accrued
through all the wars that still rage on in every type of
way through all the murders and the rapes, along with
families dying in the streets and all the homeless
without homes, the hungry with no drinks, babies dying
before they are born, addicts on every street, children
without parents and demons that we keep locked away.
always trying to escape and now pandemics that fill the
air as a broken world mourns its dead, so tell me what is
left? As life now it seems has been pushed to its very edge,
it is up against the ropes while taking its last breath, God
cannot be found and Jesus, just like Elvis, has already left.
we are showing empty on the dash, and hope is looking
as if it will not last and our strength is fading fast, the
white flag is up and it seems we have all but given up, so
I ask again, what is left?

How about believing that we all must in order to survive
begin to believe in believing once again believe in the
greater good believe in truth and justice. Believe in God and Jesus
Christ. Believe in yourself and eternal life. Believe in love and
heaven above. Believe in shooting stars and wishing wells.
Believe once upon a time and fairy tales. Believe in sunny
days and happy times. Believe in the first snowfall and the
beautiful sound of a newborn baby's cries. Believe in mother
earth and father time. Believe in yourself and your heart and
soul then believe in you and me and believe we will all one day
hopefully sooner than later come together as one race all
citizens of Earth and get it right.

Poet Richard M Knittle Jr.
A Poet's Journey