A young boy
And an old man
Step into a canoe
And carry the light
Of the new millennium
From Kiribati
To the rest of the world.

The light shines
On Aborigines and Monks,
On magnificent cities,
On the great creations
Of all mankind,
As it does on the Pope
And God’s vast
Kingdom on Earth.

From the City of Light
It ignites the Americas.

It illuminates
A bright and brilliant day,
A dawn that is clear,
A dawn that eclipses
The darkness of
The old man’s past.

For the boy,
The flame will
Lead him down
A path of enlightenment,
Or it will burn
All in his domain.

 

January 1, 2000