Some of my reflections on all that's going on in the world. I know there's no easy answers, and there's opinions on all sides as to how we respond. I don't know the ins and outs, I don't know the best way forward. But this is some of what my heart says, about how we could be living every day, because you don't know what tomorrow will bring, and the smallest gesture could change eveything.
To breathe out peace
Before the trouble comes
Before the night arrives
Before the sirens and the hashtags
Breathe out peace
In all the comings and goings
In all the conversations and pauses in between
Bring it with you, wear it on your sleeve
Pass it on, pass it on
When city avenue meandering, and roadside coffee sipping
Breathe peace
When school gate waving and late night loved one calling
Breathe peace
With every exhale, every eye caught, every corner turned
Breathe peace
And now
Tread peace surely, steadily upon blood-stained streets
Leave footprints that cleanse the red call to revenge
Not forgetting, not ignoring
But
Crying for the loss not to be in vain
Scream peace from the bottom of your mourning gut
Say it even if you don’t believe it, yet
Wrestle peace from all the wretched questions
Hold it high like a beacon
Trust it to shine out brighter than the bombs
Sing peace to soothe the spitting airwaves
Sing for the ones who’ve lost their voice
Lean in to wailing walls, dividing walls
And whisper peace into the bricks
Until they crumble under prayer-worn fingers
Until we stand face to face
And realise our battle is not against who we thought it was against
And realise war is a revolving door you can’t get out of
And realise peace is fierce and not for cowards
But like a garden, requires tending
Requires a stubborn kind of grace
Forged over time and tea, trials and tears
Requires a home in which to rest
Or else
In an instant
It may disappear
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