Trees of Peace

Summer (June), 1972
United Nations Conference on Human Environment,
Stockholm (Skarpnak), Sweden


THE TREES OF PEACE

O’Stockholm I dreamed long of you
Dwelling beside the laughing waters
O’ Scandinavia, the land of my fairytales

Scandinavia! The land that captured my thoughts long ago.
As I dreamed,
you have children of mettle dwelling among you

I know because I have seen it in youe eyes,
the fire living in your hearts

But for many days the mannequin spoke
more often to my ears than did the people
And many days the mannequin listened
to the message I brought to these shores

Often the mannequin looked with happy eyes upon the world
and that happiness as not in the eyes of the people
It is a sad thing to see empty eyes
It is a sad thing to see eyes not shining
for the heart cannot be smiling if the eyes do not shine

Stockholm, I spoke to one of your children of this emptiness

“Why is it the people of this land appear to be unhappy
their eyes do not shine
their hearts do not dance
they do not smile?”

“They are wrapped in a blanket,
a blanket of security,
That is why they do not smile”

“Who wrapped them in this blanket?”

“The state
the state and the city”

“Then the people are not wrapped, they are robbed!
There has been a crime committed against them, a theft!”

As the few stars looked through the dark sky
I thought long of the words
And looked again into the eyes of Stockholm
And looked again into the eyes of the mannequin

It is true
Many of you have been robbed
A crime has been committed against you

I fasted, praying there would come
a person with sparkling eyes and lively smile
with fire in the heart
and leaping and dancing in the eyes

This much I found in Finland
and I found so much more in Denmark
then I found it in Stockholm

My heart danced
because it takes but one person
with fire to complete the Great Circle
that holds the world

You are now in the circle, Stockholm
and you need not fear
Smile upon your neighbors and upon all children
Look with the eyes of your heart
and you will find a world of miracles
and you can begin building rainbows

A rainbow
Of truth
Of revolution
Of freedom
Of knowledge
Of faith

For this is the circular path of peace
And we must make it larger
If you cannot walk the great circle, then dance
If you cannot dance the great circle, then sing

You can
if your heart is pure
think of the great circle
and by thinking you become part of the great rainbow
and you become a part of the sun
and a part of the darkness
and a part of the thousand suns and the thousand universes

And to remind you of the beauty of the circle
so you will never forget
that the spirits directed us to this land with a mission
we have been instructed to leave you some life,
life and plans for living

You will never forget the four directions
You will never forget the four seasons
this is a beautiful thing to remember
for they are the heart-beat of the Great Circle

At Vadisluden (a public park in Stockholm)
we plant four trees

One for freedom
because people must change the heart-beat
of the world so it is a good thing
and this must not be done with trembling,
and do not be afraid to say, “Revolution!”

One for knowledge and wisdom
given by our elders
and you will know where this comes from
and you will go and get it for your children

One for faith
so you will have faith in freedom
and understanding
and in revolution

One for truth, and silence and loneliness and hunger
so you will never walk alone
and you will forever hunger for knowledge
and in silence you will find truth and trust

Silence is the language spoken at the Great Council
as we sit in a circle
around a fire larger than the sun

This is what we leave you with
In our giving
we also receive a great goodness
of silence and of sunshine

Stockholm, long is our journey to our homeland
across the great salt waters

We must go

As we go we walk softly upon Mother Earth
we ask that you do this forever also
Our hearts smile that we do not leave you
Alone.


Sul’ma’ejote