Notes About The Poem

This work is a combination of my recollection of Jack Kennedy's speech in Berlin, the famous "ich bin ein Berliner" speech, on June 26, 1963, and his address to the UN on September 20, 1963. Both were only months before his death on November 22, 1963. While the Berlin speech focused on attaining freedom and the UN speech on peace, I believe his view on how to attain freedom for all was, in essence, the same as his view on how to achieve peace for all.

But peace does not rest in charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. And if it is cast out there, then no act, no pact, no treaty, no organization can hope to preserve it without the support and the wholehearted commitment of all people. So let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper; let us strive to build peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace, in the hearts and minds of all our people. I believe that we can. I believe the problems of human destiny are not beyond the reach of human beings.

JFK

ADDRESS BEFORE THE 18TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE UNITED NATIONS, SEPTEMBER 20, 1963

For Jack

One sunny day a tall, lithe man 
slowly climbed the steps.
Some saw him as the bringer of peace.
Others as the new beacon of understanding.
But he was simply a man,
by birth an American,
by nature, Irish.
He plodded forward,
hampered by the pain in his back,
and more so, by the pain in his heart.

The crowd cried out for his help
to bring peace and love and kindness
to their world of war and hatred and anger.
Bent over the microphones,
he spoke of that world they so much desired
but he could not give them.

For he knew that world could only
be found in their hearts.
For each to find, 
to nourish, and grow
until it existed, powerfully,
in the hearts of all.

Collection: Attaining Peace
Written: March 2019

encouragingfreedomhopepeacefree verse

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Mark Toney

November 20, 2019 at 5:42 PM

Beto, this is very thought-provoking. Sobering to think that in just two short months JFK would be assassinated. Your additional information is very appropriate and adds to the reading. Cheers!

Beto Riginale

November 20, 2019 at 6:17 PM

Thank you Mark. I included the info as so many people are young (like my children) and don't remember these events. Those were certainly interesting and exciting times :-) beto

For Jack

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