Candles on the Path

What if the Beatles did not sing?
What if Picasso refused to paint?
What if the builders did not build
and the preachers did not preach?
If Jesus bowed down at the temple
and the philosophers accepted the wisdom of the day?
What if Einstein played it safe and remained a clerk
and the starving artists refused to starve
and the writers with cold fingers demanded warmth?
What if all the greats had not followed their dreams,
had cut out their hearts
and learned to fear
hunger and the cold
public condemnation and ridicule
and sold themselves short
gave in to the acceptable channels?
the boundaries would not move
work would be strangulated
and vision would be shut down.
And how many voices do we not hear?
and how many visions go unseen
music unheard or a tinny pop replica of what could be
when the hearts and calls remain buried inside?
and what would the world be
if we all dared to sing?
to light a fire
to shine our hearts?