Speak and be Heard
The Circle
My friend, I cannot be silent
My friend, I cannot stay still
My friend my heart just won't let me follow you.
My friend, my song must be sung.
The chaos and fear is growing deeper around us
The past sweeps into the present
and future seems confusing and dim.
First impulse is to order each other in labels and boxes
In the name of security and peace.
My friends, a tone is calling you
Can you hear it?
The ones that can,
join hands.
Long ago, i had a dream
I was lost, alone deep in a forest
ahead of me I could see the light
and followed it to the edge.
Stumbling through brambles, I emerged.
There were people gathering in a large circle
in a warm, green meadow, on top of the hillside.
They reached out to me saying
join us, join us
reach out your hand
reach out your hand.
My friends there's a new song arising
My friends its ancient and true
My friends its a new kind of order
My friends it respects each ones difference, it includes.
can you hear it?
The ones that can raise your hands.
each one hears it in a different way.
One by one, step by step we let go of the old ways
Singing out above the artificial world and its lies.
To the tune of our soul, to the current of power
that comes from stepping out with courage and might.
Its over, that pain of the past
its over, the things that don't last
all that remains is the circle that was there all along.
join in,
join us
reach out your hand
you are safe to be YOU!
Safe to be True.
My friend, lets stand and be silent
My friend, its ok to be still.
Step into the circle.
Dance in the circle
All melts away in the circle
till pure gold remains.
From silence...
these words are the song arose after an intense evening in an RJ facilitator training for Mission Restorative Resolutions with www.rpsinc.ca guest speaker.
We were given a sticky label of different colours and shapes. The label we received were put on the forehead of the person next to us. We now were looking out at a room of labeled foreheads not knowing what we were labeled as.
We were given our 2 instructions.
“Do not talk and organize yourselves.”
Immediately people started to grab individuals with the same colours and try and group them.
People were rejecting some and pulling in others... it was a jumble of judgments. In the midst of it all, I had a profound moment suddenly and stood silently as one person pointed to me and another indicating we were White Rectangles. I wanted to scream, THIS IS NOT “ORDER”. but subdued my instincts and obliged, continuing to follow along.
When the game stopped, we were told we could have SANG.
My heart dropped. When I went home that evening I sat down with my 20 yr old guitarist son and working on the song “The Circle”.
Painting prints available.
$88. 18”x18” on card stock signed
$188 14”x14” on stretched canvas and signed
Thanks in advance for supporting this effort! cdgood@me.com
about what happened that night.
“The Speak and Be Heard event at the Clarke Theatre was an extraordinary evening. What I saw was great engagement with young people in our community, a great opportunity for them to share their world and explore values as a community. I really appreciated the Question & Answer time with the youth, the actors. In that exercise the generational gap was bridged in a very real way, in a way I think the community was enriched by.” d.gehlen
