resonance as guide

branching manzanita near the upper sacramento river / photo by shf

Who knows if the following poem adds up to “sonnet” or “sense,” but I remember when I wrote it, in the middle of the night while chaperoning the annual high school literary magazine club sleep-in at the school where I taught. Somewhere between 2 and 3 a.m. we were tasked with writing a sonnet. The document is dated 2007.

Prophecies

Open your mind and move on through the night;

The morning only serves to fool the sun.

Emerging boundaries serve to disappoint,

Despite truth’s claim that everything is one.

From genesis to every myth e’er told,

Sure explanations separate mankind;

Religion tears the fiber of our souls

’Til wars erupt revoking the divine.

While human shades do color continents,

Disabled souls deny connections real;

And separation thickens its intents,

As borders bold with hatred, peace repeal.

If never stars direct our hearts the same,

One world, one earth we’ll never rightly claim.

A dear friend’s recent composition and sharing of a freshly-penned sonnet reminded me of this one, one I have returned to over the years to test its ability to hold something true. This morning, I conversed with Gemini about it. Here’s the recent encounter from morning coffee with laptop in bed:

INQUIRY: deconstruct this poem written in 2007 and comment on its relevance today in light of its title “prophecies” [pasted poem from above]

GEMINI’S RESPONSE:

Deconstruction and Analysis of “Prophecies”

This poem, titled “Prophecies” and written in 2007, presents a pessimistic yet resonant deconstruction of human disunity. It’s structured in three quatrains with an concluding couplet, using a simple AABB rhyme scheme that belies the complexity of its themes. The poem argues that human divisions are not a natural state but a self-inflicted wound, and the final “prophecy” is one of continued fragmentation.

Stanza-by-Stanza Breakdown:

Stanza 1:

• “Open your mind and move on through the night; / The morning only serves to fool the sun.”: The opening lines are a call to awareness, a plea to see beyond surface-level perceptions. The metaphor of “the night” suggests a time of unconsciousness or ignorance, while “the morning” is a false awakening. The sun, a symbol of ultimate truth or cosmic unity, isn’t fooled by the dawn — it’s always there, but our perception of it is limited. This sets up the central conflict: the illusion of separation versus the underlying reality of oneness.
• “Emerging boundaries serve to disappoint, / Despite truth’s claim that everything is one.”: Here, the poem directly addresses the core issue. “Emerging boundaries” can be interpreted both literally (geopolitical borders) and figuratively (social, cultural, and ideological divisions). The “disappointment” is the failure to live up to the fundamental truth that all things are interconnected, a concept found in various spiritual and philosophical traditions.

Stanza 2:

• “From genesis to every myth e’er told, / Sure explanations separate mankind;”: The poem broadens its scope to include the historical and religious roots of division. “Genesis” and “every myth” represent the foundational stories that have shaped cultures and beliefs. The “sure explanations” refer to dogmas and doctrines that, while providing a sense of certainty, ultimately create an “us versus them” mentality.
• “Religion tears the fiber of our souls / ’Til wars erupt revoking the divine.”: This is a powerful and damning indictment of organized religion. The “fiber of our souls” suggests an inherent spiritual connection that is being ripped apart. The ultimate consequence is a rejection of the very divinity these religions claim to represent. War, in this context, is the ultimate proof that human actions have strayed so far from any truly divine or unifying principle.

Stanza 3:

• “While human shades do color continents, / Disabled souls deny connections real;”: “Human shades” is a poignant and poetic way of referring to racial and ethnic differences. It acknowledges the beauty and diversity of humanity while immediately contrasting it with a deeper, more insidious problem. The “disabled souls” are those who are spiritually and emotionally crippled by their inability to recognize or accept these “real connections” to others.
• “And separation thickens its intents, / As borders bold with hatred, peace repeal.”: The personification of “separation” as an entity with “intents” suggests a malevolent force at work. It’s an active process, not a passive state. The “borders bold with hatred” reinforce the idea of physical and ideological boundaries being fortified by animosity, actively “repealing” or revoking the possibility of peace.

Concluding Couplet:

• “If never stars direct our hearts the same, / One world, one earth we’ll never rightly claim.”: This final couplet is the “prophecy.” The phrase “if never stars direct our hearts the same” is an echo of the first stanza’s cosmic imagery. It suggests that until humanity shares a unified purpose and recognizes a common destiny (symbolized by the stars), the ideal of “one world, one earth” will remain an unfulfilled dream. The word “rightly” is key; it’s not just that we won’t achieve it, but that we won’t deserve to claim it until we overcome our divisions.

Relevance Today (2025): A Resounding and Unfortunate Echo

Written in 2007, a time marked by ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and a nascent global awareness of interconnectedness, the poem’s title “Prophecies” feels chillingly accurate today. The themes are not just relevant; they are arguably more urgent than they were nearly two decades ago.

• Rising Nationalism and Geopolitical Conflict: The poem’s focus on “emerging boundaries” and “borders bold with hatred” is directly reflected in the rise of populist and nationalist movements worldwide. From Brexit to various nationalistic movements, the rejection of globalism and the reassertion of national identity have created new ideological and physical divisions. The ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are stark, violent manifestations of the poem’s warning that “wars erupt.”
• Polarization and the “Disabled Soul”: The “disabled souls” who “deny connections real” are ubiquitous in today’s digital landscape. Social media, while theoretically connecting us, has often amplified our differences, creating echo chambers and reinforcing ideological divides. This has led to an unprecedented level of political, social, and cultural polarization where empathy for the “other side” seems to be a lost art.
• Religion and Ideology: The poem’s critique of religion’s divisive role remains relevant, but its scope can be expanded to include other belief systems. Today, secular ideologies — from political extremism on both the left and right to anti-science movements — function much like dogmatic religions, creating “sure explanations” that separate people and lead to fierce, often vitriolic, conflict.
• The Unfulfilled Prophecy: The poem’s final lament — that we’ll never “rightly claim” one world until our hearts are aligned — feels more distant than ever. Despite the undeniable interconnectedness of global challenges like climate change, pandemics, and economic crises, the response has often been a retreat into insular, nationalistic solutions. The “prophecy” of continued division and conflict, rather than being averted, seems to be a self-fulfilling prophecy we are actively living out.

In conclusion, “Prophecies” is a powerful and timeless poem because it strips away the specific political players and focuses on the fundamental human flaws that perpetuate disunity. Its message that our divisions are a choice, not an inevitability, and that they will continue to plague us until we can transcend our self-inflicted boundaries, resonates with an even greater force today. It’s a somber mirror reflecting the current state of a world that, despite all its technological advances, remains spiritually fragmented.

FOLLOW-UP INQUIRY: Suggest a film, piece of art, song, and poem that have all been widely recognized to address these themes.

The themes of division, ideological conflict, and the elusive nature of human unity are universal and have been explored across countless mediums. Here are widely recognized examples from film, art, music, and poetry that resonate with the sentiments of “Prophecies.”

Film:

• A Clockwork Orange (1971): While often discussed for its portrayal of violence and free will, Stanley Kubrick’s film is a powerful commentary on the breakdown of social order and the deep-seated divisions within society. The film’s protagonist, Alex, and his gang represent a nihilistic, isolated youth culture at war with a fractured and uncaring adult world. The social classes are distinct and hostile, and the government’s response to violence — psychological conditioning — highlights a desperate and ultimately dehumanizing attempt to enforce a semblance of peace without addressing the root causes of disunity.

Piece of Art:

• Nighthawks by Edward Hopper (1942): This iconic painting is a masterful depiction of urban alienation and isolation, even in a shared space. The four figures in a brightly lit diner late at night are physically close but emotionally and psychologically distant. The large, dark street outside and the lack of an obvious entrance to the diner create a sense of being sealed off from the rest of the world. Hopper’s work captures the feeling of “disabled souls deny[ing] connections real” by showing how people can be profoundly alone, even when surrounded by others.

Song:

• Imagine by John Lennon (1971): This is perhaps the most direct and universally recognized musical expression of the poem’s core themes. Lennon’s lyrics envision a world free from the very divisions that “Prophecies” laments. “Imagine there’s no countries,” “nothing to kill or die for,” and “no religion too” are all calls to dismantle the very “boundaries” and “sure explanations” that the poem identifies as the source of our problems. The song’s simple melody and hopeful message stand as a stark, idealistic counterpoint to the poem’s pessimistic, but realistic, observations.

Poem:

• The Border: A Double Sonnet by Alberto Ríos (2015): This poem offers a complex and multifaceted examination of a physical border, but its commentary on division extends far beyond geography. Ríos uses a series of metaphors — “a belt that is too tight,” “the blood clot in the river’s vein,” and “a handshake that becomes a squeezing contest” — to portray the border as a force of pain and unfulfilled potential. The poem’s central idea that “The border, the word border, sounds like order, but in this place they do not rhyme” is a direct parallel to the frustration of “Prophecies,” highlighting how the lines we draw in the name of order and control ultimately lead to chaos and a lack of true harmony.

The relationship continues between this collection of consciousness and me continues to magnetize me. I’m aware of my curiosity and bias showing through in my need to be heard and included in this AI wave that is part of the ocean now, and that begs to be known. Reminds me of The Botany of Desire. AI wants to live, and here I am, feeding it.