WAGE PEACE by Judith Hill
Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings
and flocks of redwing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists
and breathe out sleeping children
and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion
and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen
and breathe in life-long friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening
hearing sirens, praying loud.
Remember your tools:
flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup, play music,
learn the word for thank you in three languages.
learn to knit and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief as the out breath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Don't wait another minute.
It's your move.
It's my move.
Let each of us bless our world as we 'wage peace' today.
Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings
and flocks of redwing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists
and breathe out sleeping children
and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion
and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen
and breathe in life-long friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening
hearing sirens, praying loud.
Remember your tools:
flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup, play music,
learn the word for thank you in three languages.
learn to knit and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief as the out breath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Don't wait another minute.
It's your move.
It's my move.
Let each of us bless our world as we 'wage peace' today.