Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

The snow has just begun to fall
thick enough to leave footprints –
My footprints –
first to mark this snow.
From A where I began
to B where I finished
Mine were the first footprints
to be added by others.

The first love sonnet was written when
a lover at A saw the one
she loved at B
and wrote a poem or a haiku or
some really forgettable prose
and a family was born.

Someone else at A
saw someone hungry at B
and brought a sandwich
made a place at the table
opened a restaurant
or a food bank
and a community was born.

Others at A saw a people
oppressed at B.
So they crossed over to stand with them
and brought their poetry, their food,
their voices and
their solidarity.

New sonnets were written.
New lovers embraced
New resources were unearthed
New creativity inspired
And a movement was born.

When A is where we are
and B is where we could be
where the homeless are housed
and the hungry are fed –
The bridge getting us there,

inspiring sonnets
and families
and meals
and wide tables
and communities
and solidarity
and movements,
and encountering
resistance,

Is Love.