I was looking for a quote on life & happened to find one of Julia Ward Howe’s quote which I have tweeted.
Julia Ward Howe, was a 19th century social reformer & the first woman elected to the National Institute of Arts & Letters. I wanted to learn more about this woman & in that quest came across this poem. This is a great message to every woman & a message of peace & humanity.
I drew a similar analogy in a message that is conveyed by Kavita Ramdas, a woman, I hold a lot of awe & inspiration for, in the following video,
http://on.ted.com/8Ha1
Message is very simple, no matter what your background, color or race is and even if there are many times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, we as humans & as a woman must never fail to protest & fight for injustice.
Hope you enjoy this poem!
“Arise then…women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
“We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”
From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace…
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God –
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.”
Leave a Reply