Tom Gnagey’s most recent poem to appear here was “The Pond: a cautionary tale” (July 2019).

I Am Searching for a Place
By Tom Gnagey

I am searching for a place of solitude.
A place of quiet where thoughts may flow unhindered,
where my questions and ideas may roam and soar and swell unfettered,
and when, as equals, they chance to meet, they morph and grow in positive, purposeful fashion.

I am searching for a place of safety.
A place of strength where confidence may flourish,
where doubt and fear and hesitation are relegated to the shadows,
veiled and lost in the far, forgotten, darkest corners of my world.

I am searching for a place of peace.
A place that does not tolerate the imposition of suffering,
a place where anguish, sorrow and despair are no more than momentarily felt,
a place where hurt and hurting cannot linger, and comfort ultimately abides.

I am searching for a place where opinion is relegated
to those arenas in which opinion can be meaningful and valid,
clear and separate from the realms of necessary facts and
prudently established discoveries and conclusions.

I am searching for a place free from deliberate ignorance.
A place where facts are sought and honed and taught and cherished,
a place where such ‘truths’ abound within reach of the most limited,
never excluded, flowing freely, growing and contributing moment by moment.

I am searching for a place where divergent philosophies are not just tolerated
but are sought, welcomed, and examined without preconception,
where all those who grow up with, find, refine, or embrace humanity friendly beliefs
may/shall offer their unique voices, unrestricted by others.

I am searching for a place in which love, compassion, and altruism flourish
and form the foundation of human interaction,
a place in which hate, intolerance and indifference play no part
as the human species matures and becomes all that it can positively become.

I am searching for a place that encourages each person to explore his possibilities,
define his capacities, discover his areas of interest, and, with freely offered assistance, develop them to his potential, plying them for his own satisfaction
and for the benefit of those whose lives he is privileged to touch.

I am searching for a place in which ‘what ifs’ abound,
where imagination strains and stretches with every sight and sound
and is celebrated as the essence of human growth and existence,
a place where change—positively productive change—is universally encouraged and revered.

I am searching for a place where people truly—actively—listen
and honestly work to clarify and evaluate what they hear,
a place where discourse is never based in persuasion for one’s personal triumph,
but for enlightenment, essential growth, and the acquisition of accurate answers and collective understanding.

I am searching for a place where cooperation reigns and competition pales,
where the malevolent fingers of greed release their insidious grip on mankind, because in cooperation, the human essence matures, and social conscience may relax, focus and blossom
allowing hope and compassion to rush in to fill the vacuous cracks and crevices that thwart constructive, thoughtfully ordered, collective purpose.

I now see what I am searching for—the return of my first five years of being,
where the love and safety of my family formed the foundation for my life,
the time, the place, the people, which cradled me in my necessarily protected days,
and prompted me to learn, and risk, and try, and bloom, and set myself on a path toward personal fulfillment.

I understand—with some reluctance—that I cannot return to that protective womb
in which I sheltered while learning about the World, myself, and others,
and about the remarkable potentials this being—this human being—possesses.
Those early days are gone, but because they once existed, the possibilities of their lessons and promise persist.

From all of that, let me find solace, hope, and renewed determination
to grow, contribute, and never forget how it was—how it could be again.
What ‘was’, no longer is, but that does not preclude its essential guidance
as we thoughtfully, doggedly, toil to rescue mankind from its darker self.

So, the places for which I’ve been searching were cozied deep within me all along.
How fortunate I am!  I have rediscovered my essential, overriding purpose:
To help mankind mend, recover, even move beyond its finest that has been before!
It will come to pass one idea, one individual, one opportunity at a time. Persistent patience will be the key.