06 Peace Poem by Saiom Shriver

He was alive because on that day
in Niigata the skies were gray *
*
61 died that day in the 1st infantry in Vietnam. Rows of bodybags, the
fruit of war.. drying in noonday sun.
*
Oh God to You we give thanks... that in time Polish horses... defeat
Nazi tanks
*
How many have been frozen bombed starved or blown apart by Hitler,
Bush, Genghis Khan, Churchill, or Bonaparte?
*
Weary worker ants rest on moss pillows grown by the pussywillows while a
family of ducks floats on lake billows
*
Pansies fringe the rusting panzers
*
Ivy and violets vy not with the violent.
*
As the unchanging blue waters of the lake reflect
the gold, crimson, pink and saffron of the changing fall
so the peaceful soul absorbs the ups and downs of those
in crisis
*
Above a battle grey with smoke and crimson with blood in silent
contrast break pastels from the palate of sunrise.
*
The groves of life randomly grow
but Arlington's deathbloom
graves... are set in rows
*
a deep pool at every waterfall base
.. postcrisis waters of God's resting grace
Shakti has become shanti Power has become peace
*
God will rearrange the stars into a special script for you...
a fortune cookie strip of joy. a secret message, a puzzle
solution.
*
There are the stars of purple framed night
streaming peace, pouring light
*
Some call occupying oil, pharmaceutical and war profiteer cartels
'the US but we the people of America
from Sacramento to Schenectady
reject such syndecdoches
*
One by one in many countries they break through the ice of fear.. cups
of crocuses.. stand up in caucuses.. East to West from Africa to the
Caucusus and show their eternal allegiance to the maker of their sun:
Creator of all of us.
*
Those who wend their way on the opposite
side of the road are not our foes. Each stays within the
lines as peace on both sides goes.
*
One has to choose tween bomber pilot's wings
and the whirring help of angel wings
*
The wind lullabies the lilac looms and fireflies
*
As many like Uri Geller can with mindpower bend metal
so prayer and positive thought can melt weapons.

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Polish Horses is to Alex Hershaft

(a student came up to JBO, an
American teacher of English
in Japan and told her he was born
on Aug 6,1945 in Niigata. Because
of overcast skies, Hiroshima was
selected as the 2nd target for
the only reported atom bomb
dropped on a human population) .