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Thousands wrote, amended, quibbled
over wording and content,
upheld the traditions of East and West,
of Aquinas and Confucius,
defended individual and social rights.
She was not alone, but she alone had
the vision, the drive, the determination
to create, out of lesser loyalties,
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
the Magna Carta of all mankind.
No more of these sad tones
of fear and the scourge of war,
of chaos and anarchy,
of the passions of humankind.
Though the first movements wander
among the dark and threatening
conflicts of Beethoven’s Ninth,
the "Ode to Joy" shall come.
All the millions will unite
as brothers, surrendered
to the way of peace,
to a higher synthesis of joy.
Copyright (c) 1999 Frederick Glaysher
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