I Wish We Could Live In Peace Poem by Shalom Freedman

I wish we could live in peace
And no one could be hurt again
And we wouldn't have to have enemies
And have to fight back to survive
I wish we could all just be fair and kind to one another
Very simply
Without great professions of love or false caring
With simple respect
We and the rest getting along
Honoring each other fairly
I wish we could live in peace
But it's not so simple
And my wishes don't mean very much
In the great scheme of things
We have enemies who want to destroy us
We have to fight back
We have to defeat them
It is all nice and wonderful to want peace
And simple respect and dignity
But when they come to kill us
Kindness cannot be the answer
And wishes of goodness mean nothing
We have to hurt others to survive
That's the truth that's the reality
And all the kindness and good wishes inside
Will not change the often terrible reality
I wish we will live one day in peace
And all the wars and fighting will be over
And we will never have to hurt anyone again
And we all respect each other
And live in mutual respect and dignity
I wish we will one day live in peace.