Spirit

A time comes when silence is betrayal
That time has come for us
Even when pressed by the demands
Of inner truth
We are always on the verge of being mesmerized
By uncertainty.
But we must move on
Some of us who have already begun
To break the silence of the night
Have found that the calling to speak
Is often a vocation of agony
But we must speak
We must speak with all the humility
That is appropriate to our limited vision,
But we must speak
We must rejoice as well
For surely this is the first time in our nation's history
That a significant number of its leaders
Have chosen to move beyond
The prophesying of smooth patriotism
To the high grounds of a firm dissent
Based upon the mandates of conscience
And the reading of history
Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us
If it is, let us trace its movement,
And pray that our own inner being
May be sensitive to its guidance
For we are deeply in need of a new way beyond
The darkness that seems so close around us
Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us

Many persons have questioned me
About the wisdom of my path
That they do not know the world in which they live
In the light of such tragic misunderstanding
I deem it of signal importance
To try to state clearly
A new spirit is rising among us

I come tonight to speak for them
The truth of these words is beyond doubt
Seem as perplexing as they often do
The time comes when silence is betrayal