Synkroniciti is glad to welcome Brazilian poet Edilson Afonso Ferreira with “A Recurring Dream,” a poem about hope for a better, kinder world. He speaks of the difficulty of lifting a human being out of darkness, poverty, and shame, of how the curse of death and struggle is constantly renewed.
“Sometimes one of us rises to the surface,/ taking flight from an unknown dark sea,/ where, exiled, we have stayed for so long./ Defeated in old battles forgotten in time,/ sentenced in absentia by a merciless court,/ clearing debts of incautious ancestors.”
That one is persecuted for trying to better their life, for emerging from difficulty. Is it possible God is not angry and it is only the cruelty of human beings holding us in dark places? Why should we not break the pattern and hold out hope and help? Edilson challenges us to partner with God to “make a new light; friendly to human nature,/ openhearted, unabrasive, and compassionate.” This is the goal of individuation: that we may bloom into our most soulful, compassionate selves and help everyone to do the same.
Edilson’s poetic voice is orational and dramatic, building to a series of questions that form the climax of the poem and release the anguish of generations. This is a prayer that hearkens back to the biblical Psalm, yet is also a vibrant creation encapsulating our time. Society falls back into the darkness and cruelty that have always plagued human nature, never conquered, never fading away, but sometimes hidden or restrained. If there is a time to let our better selves lead, it is now.
Read Edilson’s powerful poem in Synkroniciti’s “Dreams” issue, available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Edilson Afonso Ferreira, 81, is a Brazilian poet who writes in English rather than Portuguese. He has launched two poetry books, Lonely Sailor and Joie de Vivre, and has about 400 different publications in selected international literary journals. He began writing at the age of 67, after he retired from a bank, and is a Pushcart Prize nominee. He is always updating his works on his blog: https://www.edilsonmeloferreira.com.