A Brave And Startling Truth

Nonfiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1995

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Planet Earth

Depictions of the Earth are a recurring motif throughout the poem, acting as cornerstones that hold the key message together. In the opening stanza, the speaker invites the reader in by saying “We, this people, on a small and lonely planet / Traveling through casual space” (Lines 1-2). They frame Earth as something small and insignificant within the universe. Each refrain that repeats this construction echoes this idea with slight changes in the exact image of the isolated planet presented: “We, this people, on this minuscule and kithless globe” (Line 49), “We, this people, on this mote of matter” (Line 52), “We, this people, on this small and drifting planet” (Line 59), and “We, this people, on this wayward, floating body” (Line 68).

In each case, the people populating the Earth remain consistently the same, but while the speaker offers us different ways of looking at our world, the descriptions never waver: Our planet is tiny, alone, and meaningless in the greater scheme of existence. In other words, to make meaning of our existence, all we have is each other. The perceived slights between individuals, cultures, or countries can only detract from what should be our greater project—creating whatever importance we can as human beings inhabiting the same miraculous chunk of rock.

Children’s Dolls

In the fifth stanza of the poem, the speaker hopes for a future where “children dress their dolls in flags of truce” (Line 26). This creates a powerful and engaging image for the reader, juxtaposing childhood with the counter-example of a war-torn world. The image of vulnerable children playing with dolls offers a shocking contrast to the “rifles fall from our shoulders” (Line 25), “land mines of death” (Line 27), and “the incense of burning flesh” (Line 30) in the same stanza. Here, children, still free of responsibilities and occupied with toys, symbolize innocence and potential, while their dolls symbolize the human instinct to care for another.

As the children use the white flags of truce to clothe their dolls, the poem suggests that they don’t know what the flags used to represent to the adults around them; instead, they’re treating them as any other fabric. In this idyllic imagined future, the flags have lost their meaning and become playthings because peace is no longer something to fight for, but something these children have grown up with—a safe and stable world. The dolls, the focal point of the children’s energy and love, are symbols of the generations to come, raised by people who have come of age in a world where peace is taken for granted. Just as they blithely play with dolls now, so too will they pass the ideals of protection and inclusion onto their children later in life. In this way, their imaginative play is a microcosm for an optimistic and hopeful new world order.

World Wonders

In the sixth and seventh stanzas, the speaker references several great wonders of the world: “the Pyramids / With their stones set in mysterious perfection” (Lines 34-35); “the Gardens of Babylon” and “the Grand Canyon” (Lines 36, 39); and elements of nature like sacred rivers, mountains, and sunsets. It is striking that the speaker combines here the products of human labor—the pyramids and the gardens—with formations of the natural world. This union implies that these beauties are complementary, and that humans are not doomed to only destroy the Earth or leave evidence of their violence on “the bruised and bloody grass” (Line 17)—both nature and humanity play an essential role in shaping an ideal world.

In another approach, many of the descriptions of these wonders can also be applied to the speaker’s hope for the vast untapped potential of humanity: the “mysterious perfection” (Line 35); the “eternal beauty” (Line 37); and humanity’s ability to “Nurture all creatures” (Line 46). We can learn from the world around us, and use our newfound knowledge to inspire equal or greater wonder within ourselves, a message that underscores the poem’s point that the unity of humanity and our world will come from peace, enlightenment, and spiritual ascension.