Together holding aloft laurels of the people’s poetry
Dedicated to Dr. Esther Gress, Poet Laureate, with affection and respect
The transparent Scandinavian skies
tinged with the rose of the morning sun.
Lovely city of Copenhagen!
Where rippling waves of silver and gold
seek the company
of the seaside mermaid.
It was forty years ago,
on a day lit by the rays
of a brilliant sun,
that a youth of thirty-three,
his heart filled
with a yearning for peace,
first set foot on the European continent.
Copenhagen!
City of dazzling memories.
Port city where I offered this vow
to the memory of my mentor:
From this site I will commence
my actions for peace.
The setting for Hamlet,
rich with the poetry of
Grundtvig and Andersen,
a land everywhere adorned
by flowers, greenery and water,
offering haven and relief
to distant-voyaging travelers.
With an open monarchy
loved and respected by the citizenry,
your country is a glistening palace
of the purest imagination.
Now from this evocative land
so dear to my heart,
come the sounds of a bell,
ringing in the dawn.
Your message, sent off by Gefion,
took flight amidst the morn’s first rays,
it crossed aurora-lit night skies,
chased an endlessly receding horizon
to settle gently down before me.
Resonant tones,
deep with meaning,
strike my heartstrings!
The cheering timbres
that resound from the lofty bell tower
of Dr. Esther Gress,
world cultural figure,
Denmark’s poet laureate!
Ah! The warm spirit of friendship
that emanates from each line
of this long and wondrous poem,
which you declared was to commemorate
the seventieth anniversary
of Soka Gakkai’s founding.
On November 18, 2000,
the day of our founding,
at the Askov Højskole
a center of humanistic education
open to the people,
whose importance was noted
by Tsunesaburo Makiguchi.
On that day, at that site,
three cherry trees were planted
for the first three presidents
of the Soka Gakkai.
You honored us there
with your presence,
reciting your full
and deeply moving poem!
Your character, your poetic spirit,
are like the crisp clarity
of the Nordic skies and waters.
You direct your unclouded vision,
your penetrating perception,
at the history and ideals
of the Soka Gakkai.
And with the very greatest care
you have translated my verses into Danish
sending them, this past June,
forth into the world
from the soaring tower of your poetry.
“A Twenty-first Century of Hope and Courage”—
This is the very first occasion
for my poetry to be translated
into a Scandinavian language.
No words can therefore convey
my gratitude for your willingness
to undertake the many challenges involved
in the translation and publication
of my poems.
I understand that you were
moved by the sincere wish
to disseminate my ideas
within your country,
stating that the great ocean
starts from a single drop.
It is indeed impossible
to thank you!
The poem which you offered
as a preface is filled with
an impassioned belief
in peace and in ordinary people!
What courage I derive
from those gentle yet powerful words!
Within the collection also
you included poems
whose keen brevity
is imbued with the lofty dignity
of a flower.
The richness of your imagery!
A deep humanism
dances through the full meter
of your cosmology!
“A Twenty-first Century of Hope and Courage”
is the dialogue of our poems,
a lasting shared effort.
Your work has been translated
into twenty-seven tongues,
included in the anthologies
of sixteen countries.
Poet laureate of the West!
Inspired by you
this poet laureate of the East pledges
for the sake of peace in the world,
and for the happiness
of ordinary citizens,
to peal his own bells
with ever-increasing vigor.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
lamented human inequality
stating that society shows us
the violence of the strong
and the oppression of the weak;
that what exists in surplus for some
is fatally lacking for others.
He also stated that superficial progress
in fact speeds our species toward decline;
that disaster for some
almost always means
flourishing prosperity for others.
The words of this wise philosopher
precisely describe the realities
of our contemporary world,
a new century in which
light and dark compete and cross
with increasing intensity.
Are the final grains of sand
about to slip through
humanity’s hourglass?
Both the Earth and its people
are searching for the light of hope.
They await a healing hand.
You speak to people:
Know that whatever you do to others
is what you do to yourself.
You call out to them:
If you want to change the world,
you must transform humanity.
I deeply concur.
However far and distant
a route it may seem,
the development of humanity
is the fundamental solution.
Ah, the human being.
What a vast enigma!
The object of the sustained thought
of all philosophy,
the lights and colors
of all civilization,
the consistent theme
of all religion: humanity!
Genuine Buddhists,
those dedicated to
the happiness of the many,
have always discovered
the greatest brilliance
within the human being.
And I believe:
that the twenty-first-century challenge
of building bridges
between civilizations
must be founded in the lives
of individual human beings.
The poet addresses
the intelligent minds
of each civilization.
The poet poses questions
to humans,
about humans,
questions whose scope
transcends humanity.
“Whence do we come?”
“Where are we going?”
“Who are you?”
“For what purpose
do people live in this world?”
“What is the nature
of human happiness?”
It is from this search for answers
that the treasure of our humanity
derives its deepest luster.
It is this, above all,
that constitutes
the very essence of civilization.
If we link together
these treasures, these jewels,
we will certainly
refine and clarify
universal human values.
The poet’s voyage
in search of peace
is a dialogue with the soul
of each civilization.
It is the work of binding humanity
at its deepest roots.
Your clear eyes
sparkle with a rich love
for humanity.
They peer into the profound reaches,
the font and source of our humanity.
You connect people to people,
engage people and nature,
commingle with people and the cosmos.
Your poetry enjoys
an infinite intimacy
with the people.
You sing with a clear voice
of the happiness of the people,
of daily life,
of engagement with others,
of the struggle against injustice.
On your brow
the laurels of the people’s poet
shine with magnificent brightness.
To whom does the poet sing?
To the people!
On what does the poet stand?
On the great earth of the people!
What are the words of a true poet?
Amidst torrential flows
of false and empty language,
the poet offers people
words worthy of their heartfelt trust.
Words with the power
to make the impossible possible.
Words of true direction
illuminating the future.
Are the people without
the means to write?
“Then I shall write
the beautiful songs you sing!”
Do the people lack
a place to voice their needs?
“Then I shall shout
those things you wish to express,
the things you desire to know,
the corruption you want exposed!”
The words of the people
have been estranged
from them, suppressed.
The poet strives to set them down,
to engrave them in history
—forever—
as people’s poems.
I wish, together with you,
always to be the voice of the people,
to speak on their behalf.
I wish always to be a poet
who fights for the people.
I wish to continue to sing
in a loud, clear voice
the grand epic poem
of the people’s triumph.
The great humanist educator
Nikolai Grundtvig
aroused and awakened
the people through his poems.
He dedicated his entire life
to the people.
Hans Christian Andersen
was a poet laureate
redolent with a world
of fantasy and imagination.
His one hundred fifty-six tales,
his one hundred twenty-five poems,
are loved by the people
throughout the world.
You have lived a life of the pen
on the fertile poetic earth of Denmark,
which has fostered so many poets.
And now you are the muse
who warmly watches over
the drama of human revival
that is our SGI movement.
Poet laureate!
The words of your superlative poems
make shine the cheeks
of young men and women,
they bring a bright smile
to those whose hearts
have sunk into despair,
they ripen the buds
of various flowers
in barren fields!
They send white doves
conveying messages of peace
winging out into the world!
I wish, together with you,
to usher in a century of life.
Let us continue to ring
with the last measure of our strength
these chiming tones,
these poems of peace.
A century of life!
This is a world of universal
human community,
a world in which
the dignity of each single person
is respected to the utmost.
This is humanity’s global civilization,
a world in which each culture
shines with vitality and energy.
It is a world in which
humanity and nature
find a richly creative coexistence
based on a new global ethic.
It is a century of women
cherishing peace and life
from the heart.
Toward a century of life!
Our poetic spirits have
resounded together
since the distant past,
since long before we
encountered each other
through the Indian poet-sage
Dr. Krishna Srinivas.
You call out:
The poet is the conscience of humanity.
The world needs poets.
Since that is exactly the case,
poet laureate of the West,
continue to ring your poetic bells
ever more true to yourself
setting the tones of your humanist songs
aloft on fresh Nordic breezes!
We will never cease our advance.
As the philosopher Kierkegaard
described his famous determination
on the day he launched
his philosophical efforts:
Let the lot be cast—
I cross the Rubicon!
Although the way leads to strife,
I will not forbear.
Let us bring together
the toning chimes of peace
rung from bell towers
of the world’s poets!
Let us make the skies
of the twenty-first century
bright with the exhilarating
energy of our poems.
So that in those perfectly clear skies
we may look up to a rainbow,
the rainbow of
a century of life!
I deeply desire:
That the three young cherries
planted on the Askov Højskole campus
will sink their roots deep into the earth,
and spread wide their branches.
That the gorgeous abundance
of their blossoms
will eternally offer to those
who gather beneath them
the light of hope, courage and friendship.
And I truly hope:
That some day,
beneath the fullness of their bloom,
we may meet and speak,
my sister poet laureate
my comrade in the struggles of the pen.
December 20, 2000
Written for Esther Gress (1921–2002), Danish poet laureate. She came to know about the author through being involved in the translation of his poetry. Ms. Gress and the author never met but exchanged correspondence and poetry.
Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783–1872): Danish poet and educator who advocated the idea of a national popular school.
Hans Christian Andersen (1805–75): Danish author and poet.
Gefion Fountain: a large fountain on the harbor front in Copenhagen.
Askov Højskole: a folk high school in Askov. It provides education of traditional Danish values for grown-ups.
Krishna Srinivas (1913–2007): Indian poet and founder of the World Poetry Society International.
“Let the lot be cast": trans. from Kierkegaard, Søren Kierkegaards skrifter, vol. 17, p. 30.