Poem of the Week
Where Are We Going
By Roy Everett Butler
The road ahead is bright, they say,
paved with cleverness and shining screens,
a hum of engines learning how
to think like us, or better.
But I keep wondering
what progress asks of us in return:
what toll we pay at each new gate
for the privilege of moving forward.
Perhaps the future isn’t built
by sharper minds or faster hands,
but by gentler ones,
those who pause long enough
to lift what others drop,
to mend what others break,
to listen when the world grows loud.
Maybe mercy is the technology
we’ve been missing.
Maybe kindness is the invention
we’ve been waiting for.
And maybe the horizon we chase
isn’t ahead at all,
but rising quietly within us:
a place where we finally learn
to go forward without leaving
anyone behind.
Roy Everett Butler Books
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