From International Viewpoints (IVy) Issue 2 - August 1991
See Home Page at http://www.ivymag.org/
Regular Column
Kemps Column
By Ray Kemp, USA
A Retrospect
When looking at our fellow man we see
just what we think there ought to be
'if I were he, and he were me'
And if our look is not too good
we say that he or she then should
conform; to what we think we would
be like, if we thought we could
But He or She, They are not We
I am not him, he is not me
each has his own reality.
The Value of a man, t'is said
is never known until he's dead
and lost forever in the sands of time.
I knew a man - he had his flaws
and he would often give me cause
to think, to judge, and often pause.
Condemn, Revile, Belittle, Rage
these are the buttons of our age
like animals within a cage
of our own making.
This man I knew, it seems to me
tried very hard to let us be
the masters of ourselves, and free
to be or not, as he would be.
Sometimes good, and sometimes bad
sometimes happy, sometimes sad
but always real, and I am glad
I knew him.