This annual assignment always reminds me of Tom Stoppard’s thoughts on the power of language. “Words are innocent, neutral, precise, but if you look after them properly, they can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for you when you’re dead.”
With that in mind, I called forth a herald to announce three words of power and used the modern muse of artificial intelligence.
The Trumpet’
A silver cry cuts through the heavy mist,
To wake the valleys sleeping in the gray.
The mountain peaks, by early light first kissed,
Stand tall to watch the darkness fade away.
Clear sounds ring out across the quiet land,
A sudden spark that sets the sky aflame.
With raised brass and a steady, lifting hand,
The morning speaks an unforgotten name.
The shadows break and scatter to the wind,
As golden light pours down the mountain side.
The long and weary night has reached its end,
The gates of day are opening wide.
The Messenger
A sudden step upon the floor,
A shadow at the open door,
The heavy air grows sharp and still,
Like wind upon a winter hill.
No grand parade or bright display,
Just simple words that clear the way,
A voice that speaks what must be true,
And turns the oldest world to new.
The secret kept for many years,
Now falling fast on eager ears,
A single breath, a quiet sign,
That shifts the heavy gears of time.
The Announcement
Hear the murmur in the trees,
Carried on a sudden breeze,
Moving through the crowded street,
Softly treading past defeat.
Not with fire and not with sword,
Comes the long-awaited word.
Just a whisper, clean and clear,
Drawing every nation near.
See the weapons fall away,
In the light of breaking day.
Hear the choir rise and release:
Dona nobis, dona pacem.
GRANT US PEACE
— Human directed and edited. Machine drafted (ChatGPT).
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