A DARING DREAM

I dreamed that there were no borders or barriers
and everyone was coming and going all over.
There were no countries with complicated names,
nor other languages difficult to pronounce.
There were no Latin or Jewish quarters,
consulates, embassies or customs.
We were dealing with John, Joseph and Peter,  
having been forgotten the old records
at those big notary books of names like  
Tudors, Stuarts, Windsors,
Whites, Browns and Smiths.
Priests, pastors, rabbis and teachers,
together they worshiped the same God,
the same saints and prophets,
praising the past we lived
and sowing hope in the hereafter.
Restaurants, schools and hospitals,
all of them were open to anyone;
even the parties, weddings and baptisms,
and all other pleasures of the day to day.  

Edilson Afonso Ferreira, 76 years old, is a Brazilian poet who writes in English rather than in Portuguese. Widely published in international journals in print and online, he began writing at age 67, after retiring as a bank employee. Since then, he counts 152 poems published, in 233 different publications, (all originally written in English). He lives in a small country town (Formiga, Minas Gerais state), with his wife, three sons, and a granddaughter. Nominated for The Pushcart Prize in 2017, his first poetry collection, Lonely Sailor: One Hundred Poems, was launched in London in November of 2018.  He is always updating his works at www.edilsonmeloferreira.com.