Desired Things cont'd

I was a teenager in the early 1970s when I first came upon a Desiderata poster. The words that speak of inspiration and hope, gentle forgiveness, sense of self in the universe, struck a chord with me. I remembered seeking out that poetry whenever I felt hopelessness, uncertainty and confusion threatening my young existence. I even had the 1971 singles hit of Desiderata recorded on 45 rpm

I knew nothing of the origin of this prose poetry. I never heard of Max Erhmann. Neither did I know that Les Crane won a "Best Spoken Word" grammy for his recording of the poem in 1971. There was no internet then to do any research.

I just loved the poem in written and recorded form.

I thought Desiderata is a distant memory of a by-gone era like the flower children who first popularised it. I am surprised that Desiderata the poem is still very much around today (look up Desiderata with any search engine). Yet I should not have been surprised.

For the beautiful quiet truth that Desiderata speaks of is timeless and universal.