In this dark world of another war,
I think of human nature,
not the animal stalking food.
That is need.
But something else that dwells in some men,
the longing for power, riches, revenge.
I’ve lived too long to see
more bombs, more light falling,
true terror and fear
in the eyes of the innocent,
the light of belief
in the eyes of the guilty.
The dark opening that goes from eye to brain
fails to right the world.
So does the light of life I so desire
to go on.
I know creation
is in the making
every moment,
but what is destroyed will not come back.
Think of women of other worlds
and men in sleeping gowns
so suddenly an enemy.
People, I want you to know I think of you.
I think of the children who see their brothers shot
who have seen the honest named and killed as liars,
men who fall suddenly.
Even now women and children wonder where they are.
An apology is not enough, you leaders
of all countries.
I want tomorrow honest,
and it is almost dawn
with its light that fills me with awe,
another morning alive,
a shining path through the sycamores, red in autumn,
the brightness on olive trees in other places
and the voices of the world singing out,
at any innocent moment,
in the soft waking breath
that does not know or remember
the darkness in the human soul
even if they have seen it with their own eyes.