He Was Touring The World With His Violin Poem by johannes lewinsky

He was touring the world with his violin
When he came to a stop before a sign
on the Usher Hall in Edinburgh
And was moved to read
Edinburgh welcomes the whole world

Then when he got back to his hotel
he turned on the TV and heard a report
on how many thousand refugees this year
perished in the Meditteranean...

and this led him to remember his ancestors who escaped to America
in the 1850's from starvation in Scandinavia where famine threatened

and his question for us was
how can it be in over 150 years
we have come no further

and i was very moved
by the fact that he was moved
and by the fact that his audience
was clearly moved

but have to reflect
150 years is but the tip of an iceberg
Embedded fathoms deep
In the beginnings of what we are
And what we have yet to become

April 2017