Ode to 2000

By Geoffrey Platts

Citizens of Scottsdale!
Citizens Everywhere!
On the street,
In the home,
Among the woods,
Beside the coast
Wherever you are -
Raise up a toast!

v v v

Greet and meet
A millennium to be,
The third thousand years a.d.
O, hail it heartily
And mark it well;
Tho' Nature marks it not
- 'tis naught to her
but the briefest spell.

v v v

People of the West,
Summon up your best,
And shout "hurrah!"
Si amigos, a cantar "Olé!"
Here's to the thousand years ahead,
To all its living
And all its dead,
To all its hopes
And all its fears,
To all its glory,
Ten thousand cheers!

Twenty centuries have run;
What's done is done.
These last two thousand years -
The good, the bad,
The kind, the cruel,
The glad, the sad, the mad -
All have passed,
At last, at last.

v v v

"Urbs" to the Romans,
"Polis" to the Greeks,
"City" to modern him who seeks
In that topsy-turvy haunt
Of women and of men,
His chance to tower
In the halls of power.

v v v

Art, commerce and pleasing things that do divert -
All are here in this desert realm
With a distaff Mayor at its helm.
Her city yearns to make its name;
Luminaries come and go -
From distant lands, unending flow
Of travellers searching out the Sun,
Old Sol! He that smites so pure
With ever light and bright allure.

v v v

But how long's the life of
Name and fame?
Will forever Urbs and Polis
And City
Stay the steadfast same?
Nothing's sure
Save a time-honored truth
That whenever, and wherever
Man tears Nature with claw and tooth,
He's doomed to slip and fail
And know again - sad tale! -
His wrack and ruin
And woe and wail.

Forest, desert, ocean, sky,
Nature loves them each the same.
Why then must Man them maim
Or often strive to tame?

v v v

Ah, folk, love the Earth about you
And all shall go well,
All shall go well
For longer years
Than we alive can ever tell.
But if you love it not, beware!
For your cities shall fall.
Thus has it been
Since time immemorial.

v v v

Salute, too,
The Original Peoples,
the long-dwelling race
With whom now we share
This desert place.
Their forbears,
Those that came before -
Earth-wise, strong, rich with Nature's lore,
Sons and daughters o' the sand!
Their understanding of this land,
Alongside which they hardy grew,
Did sagely serve to bring them through.

If truly humble we of now can be,
Their wisdom's plain for us to see
In yon flickering light
Of many a bygone century.

v v v

'Tis a truth so old -
Yet plenty call it hard;
Still, it's one oft spoken by the Bard:
Love Thyself
And thou shalt love this Earth.
Aye, love thyself
And thou shalt also love thy kind.
Then, in loving men and women,
While deep-caring for our Earth,
Thy sweeter, higher, nobler self
Will come to know its birth.

The Ancients say
The Millennium
Has other meaning deep -
The Thousand Years of Peace,
When woman and man
Will glad make lordly leap,
And chained in black, black pit
Will frightful Evil keep.
And good and greatness shall prevail -
An age of gold, without travail.

v v v

Poet Tennyson's lines,
Writ down an age ago,
Said it brave
And said it so:
"Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring out the false, ring in the true."
(And more wrote he
to hearten thee and me:)
"Come, my friends, 'tis not too late to seek a newer world."
The Poet sees beyond the Gates
And through them, a fresher world awaits!
So each of you, all of you -
Hope for it! Thirst for it! Pray for it! Pen poems for it! Dream it into being!
Make sturdy the foundation for a newly-born nation.

City! World!
Young and old,
City! World!
Timid or bold,
City! World!
Dark or pale,
No longer dumb,
No longer stale,
No longer numb,
No longer frail.

Fathers! Brothers!
Kith or Kin,
Sisters! Mothers!
Forget your skin.
All races -
In all places,
Here to world's end,
Each to the other
Calls out "Friend!"
Millenarians All!
Heed well this call;

Go forth, lion-hearts,
With might and main,
Go forth, bold souls,
Attain! Attain!

v

Geoffrey Platts is Poet Laureate of the City of Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.