New Greeley

Here's the poem. Tim tweaked it a little, but it's not that much different.


The New Greeley

I saw a vision - it was last Monday at 7 in the morning.

I was standing atop Lawrenson, looking down over the campus and city;
With a new found dawn breaking over the eastern prairie,
caressing trees and buildings with fuzzy pink light
and the Spirit of God breathed on my eyes,
And my eyes were opened.

I saw Greeley, the holy city,
coming down out of heaven;
Shining brighter than all the diamonds lining Weiss Jewelers' windows,
Sparkling like "Clear water in the eye of the sun."
and all the sickness was gone from the city,
there were no more concrete cubicles of goverment housing,
no more multimillion dollar homes lining the west side of town.

No difference between East and West,
Norteno and Sudeno.

I saw the Platte river running full and wide with the water of life,
as bright as crystal,
as clear as glass,
the children of Greeley swimming in it.

And the Spirit showed me the Tree of Life,
springing from the aquifer in Lincoln Park.
I looked out and there were no more homeless people,
no more people struggling to support families on minimum wage slaveries,
no more ignorant attacks on immigrants.
Healthcare quandries solved by the wiping clean of all illness.

There were no more drivebys
no more underfunded schools
no more gay bashing
no more rapists,
no more stabbings,
no more white and brown,
Christian and "real" Christian,
no more graffittis,
no more immigration reform marches,
BECAUSE THERE WAS NO MORE HATE!

And I saw women walking with no trepidition at night,
Saw men full of passion and gentleness
that none of the children were ever abused,
because the people's sex was full of justice and of joy.

I saw an old woman throw back her head
her careworn face smoothing of its papery wrinkled surface as she
laughed like a little girl.

And when the sky closed back,her laughter rang in my head for days and days
and would not go away.

This is what I saw,
peering from the edge of the tallest building in town,
looking up from the city of death,

And I knew then there would be a day of resurrection,

And I believe that there will be a day of resurrection.

~Heather Lunde5/3/07
As inspired by John's Revelation of the new Jerusalem, and Doug Gay's The New Glasgow