TO CARL

by Ruth Sanford

If it be true

(as I've been told)

That a prayer is the heart's sincere desire

Expressed or unexpressed,

Then your life, Carl,

Is a prayer for understanding

Among people-

A sincere desire

So well expressed

And often,

That it has been heard around the world.

Men and women everywhere

Who hear

Are answering

Your prayer;

For it becomes their prayer.

And shapes their lives

In ways they had not known before.

Listen!

Can you hear this multitude of voices

Blending with your own,

Not shouting, but rising soft and clear

Above the roar of planes

And puff of bombs

Now and again?

"The only voice worth listening to"

Said Mahatma Ghandi,

"Is the still small voice within."

I hear them

From Cape Town and Joburg

From Hungary and Moscow,

From Ireland and Vienna,

And Mexico and Costa Rica,

Spain, Italy, Switzerland,

Japan and Melbourne,

England - and the US of A.

Tonight people from places we don't even know

Are offering up their sincere desire

That someone(s)

With a warm heart, a modicum of common sense,

and CASH Will hear, dammit! And come across with

a million dollars,

More or slightly less,

For Peace and Understanding.

December 22, 1986

On the occasion of a Birthday Celebration in his honor for the benefit of The Carl Rogers' Peace Project