To Adonis

Author of "The Earth Said," the verse epic that appeared recently

And tomorrow it will be said.. from among us rose Adonis —
a tree whose roots go deep into the earth, whose branches tower into the sky.
From others than us the spring hides itself, O Adonis —
from a people that has not stored the sweetest and dearest things in existence within the folds of its heart,
and has not given all this sweet and precious store — all of it — to the eyes of a poet,
to your eyes, O Adonis.
For where the light breaks free of them, there are hills of roses murmuring to the clouds,
and where the light spreads its carpets from them, there are heaps of violets embracing the soil.
And the sons of your people, O Adonis —
all of them.. all of them.. are braids of radiance vanishing into the ribs of the sun.
Is she of them, do you think, or are they of her?!
What does "the Earth say," and what does she tell,
O her faithful messenger?
And the Earth.. she has a message she kept hiding in her depths... grudging it even to her own surface...
afraid to lay it upon any one of mankind —
until you came, O Adonis.. its essence truth and goodness and beauty —
and she pressed it into your hands.. the message she has carried since the first setting-forth into life...
entrusting it to your heart.
And you.. and you, how faithful you were in conveying what "the Earth said" —
and how I would love every one of the sons of your people to read this "saying,"
so that we might all stand asking, eagerly:
When.. when will the message be fulfilled for us —
the message of the Earth...?
For you will never belong to any one political creed:
you are ours.. you belong to everyone whom the Earth has carried on her palms
and sent forth in pursuit of truth.
Until tomorrow, then, O Adonis.