Martin Sheen recited an amazing poem at the Iowa Perfect Storm Bus Tour kick-off rally for Dean last night. It captured the driving spirit of what Dean and this movement has been about.
Below is the poem, written by
Rabindranath Tagore who was the winner of the
Nobel Prize in Literature in
1913. He is considered by many one of the greatest writers of modern Indian literature. From time to time he participated in the Indian nationalist movement, though in his own non-sentimental and visionary way; and Gandhi, the political father of modern India, was his devoted friend. This poem transcends his time and place, and speaks clearly to a deeper truth. Like the confluence of spirit and moral purpose for social reform and progress with persons like MLK and Gandhi his poem speaks with a relevance to our times and our country.
Where The Mind is Without Fear
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake
Kudos to you Martin for capturing and conveying that spirit, so true in our hearts and minds as we seek to restore America.