MYSTERIOUS MAN
June 14, 2021
In light of the ethno-religious London, Ont., murder by vehicle recently, this poem, which I posted a year ago August, seems eminently relevant today.
I am African, I am Asian,
I am Caucsian, Hindu, Turk,
I am Muslim, Christian, Jew,
—I am so very much like you.
I am love and I’m compassion
I am hate, I’m destruction,
I am jealousy, I am rage,
I am in life’s middle stage,
—I am so very much like you.
I am French and I am Yankee,
I am rebel and I’m friend,
I am Algerian, I am Cockney,
I’m Canuck and I am Orkney,
—I am so very much like you.
Today is not our yesterday,
Our yesterday’s thinking
is now so very passé,
Yet our todays and our yesterdays
Seem to be so much the same,
Yours and ours. What a game.
We must get to know each other better,
Day by progressive day,
For we are so very much alike.
Take the mystery out, talk face to face,
Shake each other’s hand,
Wouldn’t it be grand?
Forgive each other, start anew.
What a view.
I am person; so are you.
I have compassion; so have you.
I love my family, you love yours.
I love travel, you take tours.
My heart bleeds for lives wrong taken,
You weep for your people all forsaken.
We can agree, the brotherhood cliche is true.
Together now, “I’m so very much like you.”
—H. W. Bryce
