KEEPING QUIET by Pablo Neruda
Now we will count to 12/and we will all keep still For once on the face of the earth,/lets not speak in any language,/lets step for one second,/and not move our arms so much
It would be an exotic moment/,without rush, without engines,/we would all be together/in a sudden strangeness.
Fisherman in the cold sea/would not harm whales/and the man gathering salt/would look at his hurt hands
Those who prepare green wars, /wars with gas, wars with fires,/victories with no survivors,/would put on clean clothes & walk about with their brothers,/In the shade, doing nothing.
What I want should not be confused/ with total inactivity Life is what it is about;/I want no truck with death.
If we werent so single-minded//about keeping our lives moving/and for once could do nothing/perhaps a huge silence/might interrupt this sadness/of never understanding ourselves/and of threatening ourselves with death/perhaps the earth can teach us as when everything seems dead/and later proves to be alive