For Jo Cox [1974 - 2016]: Peacing People Together Poem by Keith Shorrocks Johnson

PEACING PEOPLE TOGETHER

Estimated female, what is your legacy
What footprint will you leave?
Inhumanity took your life
Humanity saved your friend's life.

Devoted to a thing - to a cause - to the abstract
Those who divide seek to conquer by default:
Beguiled by propositions, power and aggrandisement
They conspire to rip us apart with violence

We must create our own path, our own future
And choose how we respond:
Never presume anything about a stranger
There will be no resolution until there are no strangers.

There is brilliance in humanity - to who we really are
If we comfort each other and call out our names:
She came through the darkness to tend my wounds
He held my hand and I felt the life he gave me.

For those who were still alive, in that indescribable hell
There was a soft oh so beautiful female voice
That bid us to a greater unity and a stern commanding
Male voice that said: ‘There is a lot to do'.

But for some their purpose is fulfilled
‘I cannot get up, it hurts too much':
I knew then that nothing would ever be the same
That from that point I had a purpose.

And our words can make a difference:
It's all we have in the darkness
And people called together
Learn through working together.

Be aware of our thoughts
Know that words are powerful:
Making a Difference for Peace
We are a lot more than we give ourselves credit for.

Hold firm to renewed unity
Stop thinking about us and the opposed others:
Anger is a motivation for change
Peace is not a noun it is a verb.

Children need to be taught to make peace
By peacing things together:
It is something we must do
There is a common thread.

There are models of humanity that roam among us
And they called me to their ranks:
On a pilgrimage that saves us from bitterness
I take the path of unconditional acceptance.

In the prospect of our children's lives
I opt to believe in beauty and love:
Committed to the contributing journey:
Peacing together the worst and best.



NOTE

[I am heavily indebted to Dr Gill Hicks here for her words - a heroine who lives on to make a difference]