Peace Poems - Poems For Peace

Sweet Peace, where dost thou dwell? I humbly crave, Let me once know. I sought thee in a secret cave, And ask'd, if Peace were there, A hollow wind did seem to answer, No: Go seek elsewhere. I did; and going did a rainbow note: Surely, thought I, This is the lace of Peace's coat: I will search out the matter. But while I looked the clouds immediately Did break and scatter. Then went I to a garden and did spy A gallant flower, The crown-imperial: Sure, said I, Peace at the root must dwell. But when I digged, I saw a worm devour What showed so well. At length I met a rev'rend good old man; Whom when for Peace I did demand, he thus began: There was a Prince of old At Salem dwelt, who lived with good increase Of flock and fold. He sweetly lived; yet sweetness did not save His life from foes. But after death out of his grave There sprang twelve stalks of wheat; Which many wond'ring at, got some of those To plant and set. It prospered strangely, and did soon disperse Through all the earth: For they that taste it do rehearse That virtue lies therein; A secret virtue, bringing peace and mirth By flight of sin. Take of this grain, which in my garden grows, And grows for you; Make bread of it: and that repose And peace, which ev'ry where With so much earnestness you do pursue, Is only there.

Now, God be thanked Who has watched us with His hour, And caught our youth, and wakened us from sleeping, With hand made sure, clear eye, and sharpened power, To turn, as swimmers into cleanness leaping, Glad from a world grown old and cold and weary, Leave the sick hearts that honour could not move, And half-men, and their dirty songs and dreary, And all the little emptiness of love! Oh! we, who have known shame, we have found release there, Where there's no ill, no grief, but sleep has mending, Naught broken save this body, lost but breath; Nothing to shake the laughing heart's long peace there But only agony, and that has ending; And the worst friend and enemy is but Death.

And sometimes I am sorry when the grass Is growing over the stones in quiet hollows And the cocksfoot leans across the rutted cart-pass That I am not the voice of country fellows Who now are standing by some headland talking Of turnips and potatoes or young corn Of turf banks stripped for victory. Here Peace is still hawking His coloured combs and scarves and beads of horn. Upon a headland by a whinny hedge A hare sits looking down a leaf-lapped furrow There's an old plough upside-down on a weedy ridge And someone is shouldering home a saddle-harrow. Out of that childhood country what fools climb To fight with tyrants Love and Life and Time?

Where the mountains touch the sky, Where poets DREAM, where eagles fly, A secret place above the crowd, Just beneath a silver-lined cloud. Lift your eyes to a snowy peak, And see the soon-to-be we seek. Whisper DREAMS and let them rise, To the mountains old and wise. Climbers climb, it's time to try, Where the mountains touch the sky. Take me there. Oh take me now, Someway, Someday, Somewhere, Somehow. Where the ocean meets the sky, Where mermaid dance, where seagulls fly, A place in DREAMS I know so well, The sea inside a single shell. Far across the living sea, A pale blue possibility, Beyond the castles made of sand, Tomorrow in a small child's hand. Only DREAMERS need apply, Where the ocean meets the sky. Take me there. Oh take me now, Someway, Someday, Somewhere, Somehow. A common ground for one and all, Behind the crystal waterfall, Where Peace flows like a mighty stream, Like Dr. King I have a DREAM. Imagine such a goal in sight, For red and yellow, black and white… New Delhi, Beijing, Kenya, Rome, Earth is the place that we call home. Baghdad, Belfast, Tel Aviv, One race HUMAN, we still believe, Come DREAM with me... Where the forests reach the sky, Wake to DREAMS, and don’t be shy. We’ll DREAM the world a thorn-less rose; We’ll plant then watch it as it grows. We’ll conquer hate with DREAMS of hope, We’ll DREAM one big kaleidoscope. Whisper now; let the DREAM begin, It's time to trust the truth within. This is where we seek and find… A place called PEACE for humankind. DREAM on DREAMERS, hopes are high, Where the forests reach the sky. Take me there. Oh take me now, Someway, Someday, Somewhere, Somehow. Now, listen close, the future calls... 'Build your bridges and tear down walls! ' For time has taught and so it seems, Realities are born of DREAMS! Whisper DREAMS and let them rise, To the mountains old and wise.