(September 11)
There are rumors of war, rumors of war;
And, authentic wars going on near and afar,
Character assassinations by precise missile attacks,
People being killed by “friends”; stabbed in the back.
Children left without guidance, parents taken away;
Little done in darkness, no one afraid of the day.
How can we save what little is left?
How will we survive when we pretend to be deaf, blind and dumb to what goes on around?
We’re flying white flags illuminated by the sun.
As night hastens to overtake and take prisoners,
Capturing those sheathed by finite visions;
We turn our heads and throw up our hands,
We say we have exhausted all of our plans.
There are wars going on, wars going on!
And rumors of peace, rumors that we’ve won.
Won? At what cost have we been crowned victor?
What price will be paid to the mistress and misters?
Who sold us the goods with bad intentions hidden?
Who led us to defeat when we couldn’t be ridden?
How did we lose sight of the prize set before?
Who took our vertical ambitions and gave us no more than horizontal paths on which to travail?
The masses shout, “Victory!”,
but we’ve failed - we’ve failed.
We’ve failed to lead, instead we followed;
We’ve failed to acquire hope, instead we borrowed.
Now, we bow our heads;
our hands are clasped in prayer;
Now we turn heavenward for rescue from despair.
No more rumors, not of war or of peace,
As we search for escape from life’s tumultuous sea;
They’ve removed God from schools, city and state,
But we cry out to him when we recognize our fate.
We patch lives together like paper mache’,
Temporary fixes until we discover the way.
We mix colors, voices, and experiences trying to unite;
In frustration, we collapse beneath the weight of the fight.
We’ve destroyed cities and buildings and taken innocent lives,
If we don’t retreat few will survive.
They’ll be standing in the rubble of treaties and pacts, destroyed by limited vision and vicious acts.
Let’s march as victors to the fight against war –
Peace is priceless, war can’t be afforded anymore.
