Going aways above all,
going beyond myself
to make the universe the centre,
instead of “me” and “myself”;
it is breaking through the crust of egoism
that encloses each one of us as in a prison.
Going away means I cease
putting my little world under a microscope;
I stop turning around myself
as though I were the centre of life, of all that is
Going away is not about travelling miles
and reaching supersonic speeds
above all else, it means opening my eyes,
opening myself to others, reaching out to them
Finding someone who walks alongside me,
on the same road, not following me like my shadow
but seeing things I do not see
and pointing them out to me.
Dom Helder Camara (1909-1999)
(Free translation of poem in “Prier” magazine No 303)