Handshakes Across the Globe.

Journey from the Wall of China to the Atlantic,
    Toss a link from Jerusalem to Italy;
 
Export Colombian coffee beans to Spain,
    Stretch your smile back
for Germany;

Bring Brazil on a hike to the Himalayas,
    Play hide-in-the-Pacific with Japan;
Carry Liberia to the Eiffel Tower,
 
And bring back French wines
    to the Motherland;


Pour the oils of Iran on Canadian steel,
    To loosen a course from Greenwich to a Caribbean beach;
Take the snow cones of the coldest Arctic,
    To cool the tensions of
    the Middle East.

Negotiate with Russia, but teach them the song
     Of an African village and an Indian groove;
 
And as you walk the streets of Hong Kong,
     Recollect teaching Netherlands
     a salsa move.

Small gestures to harmonize our world,
       Could be as easy as teaching Australia to electric slide;
 
And when you’re hitch-hiking back to England,
       Nigeria will offer you
       the ride.

Mark Anthony Thomas
Copyright © 2004

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