THE EMPTINESS OF A HEARTLESS CIVILIZATION
(A Monologue with the Light and Shadow of the World)
Humanity built stairways toward the stars,
yet left its own soul at their foot,
sitting upon a cold stone.
It gave the world wheels,
gave time wings of iron,
bridged distances with a thread of light,
yet could not build a bridge
across the abyss between two hearts.
Now the world fits in the palm of a hand.
A single touch
can carry your voice across oceans,
yet a mother may weep through the night
without anyone hearing
the fall of a single tear.
In the world’s squares,
screens shine like tiny suns,
while people’s eyes
have begun to forget
how to kindle light in one another.
We scatter smiles across photographs,
place flowers upon words,
red hearts upon silence,
while behind the curtains of our homes,
loneliness sets its table.
How strange this age has become!
Humanity produces endless voices,
yet no longer knows how to listen.
It writes thousands of words each day,
yet lacks a single one
to ask another human being for forgiveness.
It builds walls that reach the clouds,
yet tears down bridges over a handful of land.
It finds water on distant planets,
yet leaves children thirsty
beside dried-up springs.
Somewhere, around polished tables,
the profits of war are being calculated,
while a child
counts the steps to the door,
waiting for a father
who will never return.
And the Earth?
It still carries upon its back
the towers of our pride,
the graves of hatred,
the forests we burned out of greed,
the seas into which we poured our forgetfulness.
And yet,
it sends a flower through a crack in the asphalt,
as if whispering to us
that life has not yet surrendered
the key to its existence.
And somewhere, far from the cameras,
a tired hand offers bread to a stranger,
someone forgives without announcing it to the world,
a heart opens its door
without asking who stands outside.
There,
in a gesture that never makes the news,
civilization draws breath.
Not in the steel of skyscrapers,
nor in the speed of machines,
nor in the mind that invents
ways to travel farther than yesterday.
But in the heart that knows
not to trample another human being
just to rise above them.
Therefore, humanity,
before seeking a home among the stars,
look around and ask
whether you have left room
for another human being beside you.
Before conquering space,
conquer that fragment of darkness
that grows within you
each time you witness suffering
and turn your face away.
For what is the point
of reaching the edge of the universe
if, along the way,
you lose the human being you once were?
The world needs more
than minds that invent the future.
It needs souls
that refuse to sell the present.
And true civilization
will not begin
when humanity touches the stars,
but when, at last,
it bends down beside a fallen human being
and lifts them up
without asking
what they are worth.
For we may hold in our hands
the keys to the entire world,
but if the heart remains empty,
we will be nothing more than lost travelers
in a civilization
that shines on the outside
and slowly dies
within.
Afërdita Mero
Tirana, Albania
