Below is a poem I wrote a few days ago. I’m not deluded, I doubt it will make any difference and it certainly won’t change the minds of any insane/megalomaniac leaders. But writing a poem is maybe marginally better than not doing or saying anything.
Michelle Mildiner

Again

They lived in peace
A normal existence
No need for fear
No need for resistance.
They led their lives
From day to day
And although they took nothing
You still make them pay.

 

What makes you do it?
How can you sleep?
When people are dying
And loved ones weep?
All because of your hate
All because of your greed
Your unjustified, criminal, inhumane needs.

 

Maybe life wasn’t perfect
But it wasn’t all bad.
Then along came one man
Who took all they had –
Their freedom, their rights, their dignity
And you left them three choices:
To die, fight, or flee.

 

So we watch them dying
We hear their pain
It’s that age-old story
Again and again.

 

When will we learn
To stop this obsession
With war and destruction,
Hate and aggression?

 

When will we learn
To love each other
As sister, brother,
Father, mother?

 

I don’t have the answers
I don’t have a prayer
But it’s high time to stop
This bloody nightmare.

 

It’s high time to stop.
Stop
Voting for hate,
For death and destruction
And the bid to be great.

 

Please.
Call back your soldiers
Call back your tanks
Take back your bombs
And let’s all give thanks

 

That we’re all flesh and blood,
That we all feel pain.
That deep down, in fact,
We are all the same.

 

There is only one thing
That’s worth fighting for
And it’s not land or power
Or oil, for sure:

 

It’s peace.
And more peace,
It cannot be war.
It’s compassion
And love
And a little bit more.

 

Please.
Let’s not do this.
Any
More.

© Michelle Mildiner, 16/03/2022