A Poets Pen Poem by David Wood

A poem can be like a gentle breeze on a warm summer
Day comprising of light airs or the soft hues of autumn
Or speak of love found and then lost with the heat
Of passion between two lovers

A poem can take the reader through fields of sunflowers
Or a meadow of poppies or a wood carpeted with bluebells
Or along a sandy beach at sunset with gentle waves
Lapping in the distance

Soldier poets write about the folly of war, their poetry
Speaks louder than any history book on war ever will

But what are we as poets if not to speak out
And challenge everything around us

Poems that shout out at Man's inhumanity to Man
Destruction of our environment causing misery to millions
Or Man bent on trashing this planet or polluting our oceans
Yes, not THE planet or THE oceans but OUR planet and OUR oceans

The pen of a poet is a mighty weapon where the energy
Of a poem can be directed at the heart of injustice to reach
Into the hearts of people who read our poems and where a flame
Is then lit and action taken. For unless action is taken nothing will change

And we become just as guilty
as those who cause such misery destruction and pollution