LONE VOICE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS - John Shane

Renewing the commitment to work the benefit of others, for the common good…

John Shane, 1991

Looking at the newspapers, it’s impossible not to notice all the many challenging difficulties we are all facing, and, as a response intended to counteract the despair one can feel in confronting those difficulties, I want to share with my readers this poem of aspiration that I wrote as an expression of my life-long commitment to continue to carry out - to the best of my ability - my vocation as a poet and practitioner of meditation, dedicating myself and the practice of my art to the service of others.

Audio of John Shane reading his poem

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LONE VOICE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS

John Shane

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Deep and ancient wounds
of colonisation and slavery
scar our nation’s history
and I cannot hope
to heal them all

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Yet I swear I will make
my contribution
no matter that it might
be small

I will raise my hands to work
for the common good
- I will raise my voice
to sing

And though mine may be
a lone voice

Crying in the
Wilderness

Still I will offer up my song
- for whatever blessings
it might bring

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There is so much wealth
in this land

But it is held
in too few
people’s hands

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To the poverty of the many
there seems to
be no end

And I have seen
the hunger
in their children’s eyes
turn brother against brother
and friend against friend

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But I swear
that we can find
another way
to solve the problems
we all face today

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And I believe in my heart
that I, myself, can change
so that, together
we can start
to end the conflicts
that are tearing us apart

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I will raise my hands to work
for the common good
- I will raise my voice
to sing

And though mine may be
a lone voice

Crying in the
Wilderness

Still I will offer up my song
- for whatever blessings
it might bring

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Some say that for those
like you and me
there can be no
salvation

They say we have brought
our misery down upon
ourselves

And that we are the cause
of our own downfall and
damnation

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But what I say is
that those words
are the lies

Of those who would not
have us even
dare to try
to change our
present situation

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Their words are like
poison in our ears
that serve no purpose
but to add to our fears
and I will not listen to them

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I will raise my hands to work
for the common good
- I will raise my voice
to sing

And though mine may be
a lone voice

Crying in the
Wilderness

Still I will offer up my song
- for whatever blessings
it might bring

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So many here stare
poverty in the face
and must do their best
with little more than
the bread of their
affliction

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Too many streets in our towns
are filled with those who
have lost their homes
as they struggle in this world
- their lives ground down by
unrelenting poverty
that has led them to seek
false refuge in the oblivion
of addiction

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I know there is no easy way
to get from where we are today
to where we need to be

But still I pledge my heart and soul
to the journey towards
our destiny

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And even though I know our final goal
may be something I myself
may not be blessed
to live long enough
to see

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I will raise my hands to work
for the common good
- I will raise my voice
to sing

And though mine may be
a lone voice

Crying in the
Wilderness

Still I will offer up my song
- for whatever blessings
it might bring

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JS

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