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ChendaWrites: I Dream A World (Original Poem)

“I dream a world where all will know sweet freedom’s way, where greed no longer saps the soul, nor avarice blights our day.”

-Langston Hughes, “I Dream A World” Poem

I dream a world

whereby

Siddhartha’s wisdoms be incarnate.

*

A world

made

by Kaundinya’s arrow,

although it was his love

not war

that won Soma’s heart.

(Daughter of the Naga,

Apsara Princess,

and Warrior-Queen.)

*

It was He who prayed,

under a Bodhi tree:

“Conquer anger with non-anger.

Conquer badness with goodness.

Conquer meanness with generosity.

Conquer dishonesty with truth.”

*

But it was She who sang,

under a Hangman’s tree:

“Southern trees bear a strange fruit.

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root.

Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze.

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.”

*

Our boundless love

broken

by the walls and fears of man.

*

But we are more

than lotuses,

or islands, or mountains –

rivers and oceans between.

*

Our tears, more than

crocodiles, waiting,

for the droughts to end,

and guarding

small streams.

*

Threatening Her Law Eternal:

*

If hate could appease hatred,

then this world, our paradise on earth,

would be, peace be made,

and unmarked

by crude spears and the stone arrows

of Jebel Sahaba.

*

Yet,

here we are.

*

I dream a world

made free

by the truth-tellers

and teachers

and mothers

…like me.

*

A dream of a dream,

from the depths of our souls,

unbounded by fear,

unguarded and made brave

by the pain of birth,

our existence,

and a never-ending sacrifice.

*

Compelled forward

by all the things we’re told,

the things we can’t do,

and the people we can’t be.

*

I dream a world

where the me that’s inside of me

is the me

that everyone else

sees.

*

I dream…a dream of a dream of a dream.

I Dream A World ©2021 Chenda Duong

Note: I wrote this poem in response to NPR’s, “Poetry Challenge: Honor MLK By Describing How You Dream A World,” (2021).