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Harmony Forum

Peace from Harmony
Literature and poetry for harmonious peace



 

Терезинка Перейра (США)

 

МИР В ДЕЙСТВИИ

 

Мир - это лабиринт,

труднодоступный

для человека

агрессивного ума,

который пытается выжить

в этом несовершенном мире.

 

Тем не менее причина

может преобладать вместо

растерянности, ярости, войны,

когда мы обнаружим,

что борьба за мир - это

единственно стоящее действие

с признанием,

что мы все равны

от рождения до смерти.

 

TRANSL BY Adolf Shvedchikov

https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=559
..........................

 

Teresinka Pereira, USA

 

PEACE IN ACTION

 

Peace is a labyrinth

of difficult access

by the human being

of aggressive mind

trying to survive

in this unsettled world.

Nevertheless reason

can prevail instead

of confusion, rage, war

when we discover

that the action for peace

is the o­nly worthwhile

with the recognition

that we are all equal

from birth to death.

 

11-02-20


----------------------------------------------------------

Kartar Singh


 

 

Brigadier (Retired),

Pro-Vice Chancellor, Patanjali University,

Haridwar, India


21 September “Day of International Peace & Harmony”

 

Let this 21st September be special o­ne,

Let the whole universe feel as united o­ne.

 

Let us make a simple treatise,

Let all of us live in total peace.

 

Let there be no threat and no tears,

Let everyone live without fears.

 

Let universal brotherhood be our ultimate goal,

Let peace and harmony be in our souls.

 

Let the hate of colour, creed and religion disappear,

Let the universal peace and harmony reappear.

 

Let “Panch Sheela”(Five principles) be our final line,

Let all of us rise, smile and shine.

 

Let Panch Sheela be the foundation of harmony,

Let it be the ultimate goal and testimony.

 

Let the five basic principles rule,

Let us not allow anyone to fool.

 

Firstly, respect other’s territorial integrity,

Secondly, NO aggression with any entity,

Thirdly, NO interference with other affairs,

Fourthly, Equality and mutual benefit in all spheres,

Fifthly, accept peaceful coexistence of all countries,

We can thus live in peace for centuries.


02/09/12
 

Harmony in Universe

 

An atom has three parts Positive, Negative, Neutral,

And still it coexists in perfect harmony.

                                                   

Life similarly has High and Low situations,

Still trillions of lives coexist in harmony.

 

A couple goes through pulls and pushes of life,

Still married lives coexist with harmony.

 

Friendship has Ups and Down in life,

Still millions of friends coexist in harmony. 

 

A Group has makers and breakers in it,

Still millions of groups coexist with harmony.

 

Modern Society has Good and Bad elements,

Still society coexists in perfect harmony. 

                                               

A Country has friends and foes around it,

Still countries coexist in the world in harmony. 

 

The world has gone through five thousand Wars,

Still it coexists in the universe with harmony.

 

The universal has Voids, Energy and magnets,

Still these coexist in balance and harmony.

 

So, what causes imbalance and problems indeed,

It’s human jealousy, wants, greed and need.

 

01/08/12


===============================================
Educating all  children  for  HARMONY

by  Francisco  Gomes  de  Matos,  a  peace linguist  from Recife,Brazil
e-mail   fcgm@hotlink.com.br

Educating all  children  for  Harmony
is more than a desirable  global strategy

Educating all  children for  Harmony
is more  than a dreamed of Harmony

Educating all  children for  Harmony
is  more  than a necessary  global  quality

Educating all children  for  Harmony
is  an indispensable, global humanizing necessity

Educating all  children  for  Harmony
is a global  responsibility,for  you  and  me

Let´s  educate  all   children  for  Harmony
and a peaceful,nonviolent,nonkilling world there will be !

--------------------------------------------------------------------
What  will  there  be  ?  A  nonkilling plea
dedicated to President Barack Obama
by Francisco Gomes de Matos, a peace linguist
from Recife,Brazil


Of your  faith in  hope there is  Nobel  recognition
the formidable challenges  facing you now magnify
wisely added to your brave presidential mission :
A deeper universal value you are asked to  dignify

A world free from the threat of nuclear war: will there be ?
A world free from any  acts of terrorism: will there be ?
A world free from violations of Human Rights:will there be ?
A world of Societies that are killing-free  : will there be ?

For  diplomatic relations what principles  do you (fore)see ?
For  economic fairness   what policies do you (fore)see ?
For  environmental justice  what procedures do you (fore)see ?
For universal harmony  what practices do you (fore)see ?

To a nonviolent world  may you creatively  contribute
in which myriad ,malevolent ways  of killing will  cease
To a  Nonkilling world  may  you  audaciously contribute
and help Humankind learn to share the Earth  in  Peace

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Monsieur Guy Crequie and Takis Ioannides, and President Leo Semashko

 

You see my poem, "The Sun" in the early of 21 century. Now I'm glad to

look creating the wonderful epics in GHA.

 

The Sun

 

'Already Celestial Epic has lost the harmony

 

Man kind is in the great distress'

 

The Sun's voice shuts me out

 

Yet high noon sun remains over me

 

Grief is in a seed of wheat

 

The sun is too fiery to bear wheat

 

The white doves rise up into the sky

 

Tracing the light around the sun

 

Though it's a fantasy of mine

 

Doves keep flying

 

Till the end

 

 

I send you my poems which I wrote today. Thank you for your poems!!!

With Love, Kae Morii

 

No More Hibakusha from Hiroshima and Nagasaki

 

* hibakusha is the A-bombed

victim

 

What happened o­n 6th August 1945?

 

640meter above the earth

 

A-bomb “Little Boy” was run into Hiroshima town

 

Awful pillar of fire flashed up

 

Burst citizens to annihilation

 

Outcry and lost bodies in blast furnace 6000 ℃

 

Eyeballs hanging from eyelids

 

People asked for a water dragging their burned skins

 

People wandered around the earth pollution penetrated the lethal ash and the

black rain

 

The river of Hiroshima is flowing with the human’s sorrow

 

Even now more than 60 years later

 

Cancer is increasing with the strange chromosome invading in the bone marrow

 

Who can say it to the victims that A-bomb was run to cease the war?

 

A Moment of Silence

 

―against the second drop o­n 9th August 1945

 

Why did it need?

 

The first A-bomb was great lethal beyond their expectation

 

With o­ne push o­n the bottom

 

To cease the War

 

Three days after they knew the hell in Hiroshima

 

The second A-bomb "Fat Man" was run into Urakami Cathedral

 

A moment ripped the human reason

 

Nagasaki town was gone up with the flash and

 

Many Christians groaned up against the human original sin

 

Oh, miserable! The burned face of the blessed Mary

 

The radiation scare engraved in her heart

 

The Prayer Bell broken in a moment of silence

 

With the thin breath of burned people

 

With the last tear of prayers

 

―May forgive the stupid human sin!

 

Prayer in lethal ash

 

Oh, what’s tragedy of human being!

 

Was it the truth A-bombed was fallen to cease the War?

 

Scientists were received the result

 

The capacity of killing is influenced by landform

 

The death in Hiroshima is more than 120,000 people

 

The death in Nagasaki is more than 75,000 people

 

Is it truth that the A-bombs were fallen to cease the War?

 

The nuclear weapon has been produced more forcing the lethal power since the

Nagasaki

 

In Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan

 

More than 450 times of nuclear tests had repeated for 40 years and

 

More than 1,200,000 people are A-bombed

 

In Polynesia

 

More than 190 times of nuclear tests have repeated

 

At the presence more than 20,000 A-bombs stay in our planet

 

More than 2000,000 people are A-bombed and suffering with cancer

 

Our planet may lie in the dust for a few minutes

 

Before the last judge

 

The dream and hope of human being, and the science

 

Copyright o­n Kae Morii

08/08/09

--------------------------------------------------




 

Dearest soul brothers and sisters in this life,

let the poets speak for the humans genocides,

 

64 years have been past since the hard hearts of some humans

used the awful weapon of atomic bomb against innocent humans

taking their lives.....

 

WE NEVER FORGET!

 

THE FATAL NUCLEAR CALAMITY,

THE BLACK EVENT IN NAGASAKI CITY OF JAPAN

 

The silence as wimple,

with its frozen breath,

passed through the hearts

of human beings,

the memory,

a whack echo of the past,

left in their souls

awful grazes,

 

human beings smileless

with their eyebeam in the past

and a monument

with an indicative hand

indicating in the sky

the star’s formation

wondering a nightmarish : “WHY?”

 

fifty five years have been passed here (from the date I wrote the poem)

and the nightmare wakes up

via the vehicle of the dreams

for the cold-bloodedly murder

and the shame

for those who blast

the virtuous guises

 

the mushroom of the death

was florid

bloodcurdling rivers

of glutton lava

were fissuring and destroying

the fleshes of the breakable

human beings in a minute

 

they converted the pure people

in radiogenic existences

the message of the people for LOVE

became dead

their fleshes like ribbons

the logic absent

the history of the human beings

was dressed with black

 

the murderers seeded death

and cropped calamities

the “BOMB”

the worst of all tools of death

the scientists

are responsible for them

who converted the face of our earth

to this of condemned to death

 

Open the pure books

And study with care the wise person’s words

Build your opinion

About the awful activities

Select your political leaders

With wisdom

Because, the evil activities

Never atone, anybody.

 

By Takis Ioannides, Greece

August 06, 2009


----------------------------------------------------------

For the close of the day of mourning in commemoration of the destruction of the First and Second Temples and in anticipation of a joyful Shabbat.

 

Katherine Shabat

 

THE STRUCTURE OF THE WHOLE

 

To fathom the concept

‘structure of the whole,’

is the prelude towards world peace

and universal redemption.

Only a ‘whole’ man

is able to grasp this abstract:

a man at o­ne with the four elements

and possessed of four personas.

I

Rooted in earth, a pure politician

neither money nor power can corrupt,

his o­ne quest to infuse in humanity

the Glory of the Lord.

I I

Striving to unite with the universal spirit

in the ancient, eastern dance:

limbs liquefied, love flowing

like streams of life-giving water .

III

Flames crackle and ignite the Muse.

The artist expresses his joy and praise

in every medium: in colours, melody

and through the written Word.

IV

This man of science, of learning

coupled with imagination,

extracts from the very air

the certainty of creation’s totality.

How will we know this complex man?

Will he recognize himself?

Are we deserving of his Kingdom?

 

Katherine Shabat sevenwv@netvision.net.il

31/07/09

-----------------------------------



HARMONY DAY

by Francisco Gomes de Matos, a peace linguist from Recife, Brazil

 

LET´s SING "HARMONY, HARMONY"

and MAKE IT MORE THAN A UNIVERSAL QUALITY

IT IS A WAY FOR THE WORLD TO BE

A WAY TO BRING TOGETHER YOU AND ME

IN ALL LANGUAGES, LET´S SAY "HARMONY, HARMONY"

AS THE DEEPEST HUMANIZING WAY FOR THE WORLD TO SEE

THE WISDOM TO PEACEFUL PLANETHOOD FOR YOU AND ME

 

21/06/09

------------------------------------------------

 

NEEDED: NONKILLING HISTORY OF THE WORLD

a poem-plea by Francisco Gomes de Matos, an applied peace linguist

from Recife, Brazil

 

In History books a vocabulary of destruction abounds:

wars, battles, mass slaughters, conflicts, massacres, struggles are described

showing how shamefulMankind’s history often sounds

 

Historians, you can give your field a new quality

if you become deeply humanizing questioners

focusing o­n people and events that dignify Humanity

 

To serve as a good example tomorrow

the history being made today

should help Peace replace sorrow

 

Some day, a NONKILLING History will have its place:

Harmony will be found in every heart

and friendship will be shown o­nevery face

 

02/05/09


---------------------------------------------- 
HARMONY: a plea for PEACE
 poem dedicated to the HARMONY ASSOCIATION
 by Francisco Gomes de Matos, an applied peace linguist from Recife,Brazil


HARMONY
 Let´s  recognize
 With HARMONY
 Let´s  humanize
 In a spirit of HARMONY
 Let´s PEACE-realize

----------------------------------------------------
Teaching English for PEACE:

the Ultimate Plea

 

by Francisco Gomes de Matos,

 

a TESOLer and an applied peace linguist from

Brazil.

 

We teach English globally

But why not also peacefully?

 

We teach English crossculturally

But why not also peacefully?

 

We teach English creatively

But why not also peacefully?

 

We teach English professionally?

But why not also peacefully?

 

We teach English technologically

But why not also peacefully?

 

We teach English cooperatively

But why not also peacefully?

 

We teach English holistically

But why not also peacefully?

 

We teach English empathically

But why not also peacefully?

 

Because it calls for a new, challenging role to play?

Because it changes what TESOLers think, act, and say?

Because it will be a truly planetary shared way.

 

-------------------------------------

TESOL = Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, an international

organization of teachers of English, headquartered in the U.S.

TESOLer means a member thereof

---------------------------------------

11/29/08


-----------------------------------------------
Dedication to "Poetess au Summit" in Chamonix, July 2008

 

Kae Morii, Japan

 

Echoes of Harmony Voice

 

 

The pure light reflected o­n snow of the summit

The noble voice resounds o­n rocks

Not conflict

Beauty of the Nature

 

 

We are with the prayer for Peace

We have Human voice

Not beasts

Celestial imagination

 

 

Our pure heart go through with air of Peace

Our soul transcends matter

Not arms

Echoes of Harmony Voice

 

21/09/08

------------------------------------------------------


Helene F Klingberg

 

Bombs or bread?

 

What is pouring down from the sky-

bombs or bread?

What is lifted up from the earth-

prayers or curses

thanks or threats?

When terror threatens

nobody can feel safe.

When war is started

violence creates more violence.

It is still possible

to plant the peace-tree

with roots of justice

if we will.

 

( printed in my book "Mosaikk" 2002)

29/08/08

---------------------------------------------------------------------


Takis Ioannides

"HYMN to PEACE"

 

Let "PEACE" become
the sill of ecstasy,
the horizon in our eyes,
the flower in our heart,
the light of our deliverance,
the mission of our life,
the discovery of real beauty,
the real Value of our future,
the breath of our existence.



"Fly with the vision of PEACE"

 

L eave your hearts, free to fly
O ut of clouds, never ask them why
V ail to God, Who the mercy submit
E arly bird run, by the Light to sit


A nswer the questions, placed by kids
N ever give up, help somebody who needs
D are to fight with yourself to win


P lace a bridge for the hopes to come in
E scort of Peace, in your actions above
A sk from the hearts, to adopt o­nly Love
C hoose o­nly principals, virtues, for more
(the)

E cho of PEACE, is what stops any war.

 

By Takis Ioannides

08/02/08


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


A Culture of Peace poem

 

The following poem, written by Meg Hartfield, Wanganui, was dedicated to the opening of the “Building a Culture of Peace: for the children of the world” exhibition in the Wanganui Community Arts Centre (New Zealand) 10 November 2007, where it was shown for 3 weeks. This exhibition was created by Soka Gakkai International.

 

A Culture of Peace –

our customs -peace-filled

our institutions-peace-filled

our achievements-peace-filled

all that we think,all that we say, all that we do-peace-filled.

As the child learns to build

brightly-coloured blocks precariously balanced

So is our world precariously balanced

hatred, greed, violence, famine, flood, suffering,

black blocks of indifference

These must be toppled, supplanted

Forming new patterns Of light and colour,

Airy spaces, where souls cangrow and be free

perfectly fitting together in love invincible –

a world of peace for the children

and their children-and their children’s children –

This is our dream-And our resolve

----------------------------------------------------------------------------


A World without weapons

 

a poem-plea by Francisco Gomes de Matos

from Recife, Brazilfcgm@hotlink.com.br

 

32 persons in Virginia lost their lives

remembered universallythey willbe

the memory of their sacrifice thrives

An example for all generations to see

 

For their souls let´s prayin harmony

Surely heir bodies are not gone in vain

Has the world learned from this tragedy?

Making/selling/using guns are acts insane!

 

A world without weapons : can that come true ?

It will depend o­n everyone´s wisedetermination

Ours, theirs, her, his also challenging all of you

To build, share and sustain Peace in every nation

 

18/04/07


----------------------------------------------------
Dear Maria Cristina Azcona
,

 

As a Lutheran Christian, a Theravada Buddhist and a fellow human being I applaud your warm words.

 

This is what should be done
Be the o­ne who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburned with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in safety,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born,
May all beings be at ease!

 

One of the greates pronouncements ever made in the field of morality is: Hatred ceaseth not by hatred, hatred ceaseth but by love. This is the eternal law.

 

All forms of life, being manifestation of o­ne life, are interrelated in a complex web beyond our full conceiving. Love is the fulfilling of the Law, and like the light and darkness, male and female, life and form are ultimately and, if the truth were known, immediately o­ne. In the Law of laws - eternal Harmony, all who love are healers of those in need of it.

 

Sincerely yours,

Michael Holmboe

April 6, 2007

------------------------------

 

Dear Michael,

 

I am admired with your wise and beautiful letter to Maria Azcona, even more I am admired with your deep poem, but in the highest degree I am admired with your of genius phrase "The Law of laws - eternal Harmony "!!!!! I would be happy to make this phrase by epigraph of our Charter of Harmony. It will be your great contribution in our Charter and I would be happy to include your name o­n the title page of the Charter authors, if you do not object. I also would be happy to publish your remarkable letter to Maria Azcona o­n our site, if you permit.

 

Best harmony wishes,

 

Leo

April 6, 2007

-------------------------

Dear Leo,

Many thanks for your letters.

You can certainly publish my name. However, I prefer to title me as "writer" and not as "poet".

The "poem" is translated from old Pali - Sanscrit languages and is from the elder scriptures school of Buddha. Buddhism is however not an missionary religion. Many people regard buddhism as a philosophy. B uddism is probably the most tolerant religion of the world, as the teaching can coexist with any other religions.

Theravada promotes the concept of Vibhajjavada (Pali ), literally "Teaching of Analysis." This doctrine says that insight must come from the aspirant's experience, critical investigation, and reasoning instead of by blind faith; however, the scriptures of the Theravadin tradition also emphasize heeding the advice of the wise, considering such advice and evaluation of o­ne's own experiences to be the two tests by which practices should be judged.

The Theravadin goal is liberation (or freedom) from suffering, according to the Four Noble Truths .

Here is the text:

 

The Buddha's Words o­n Kindness

This is what should be done
Be the o­ne who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburned with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in safety,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born,
May all beings be at ease!

Let none decive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let not through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her o­nly child,
So with a boundless heart
Should o­ne cherish all living beings:
Radiating kindness over the entire world
Spreding upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outward and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted o­ne, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.

- Buddha

With warm Peace wishes -

Michael

April 6, 2007


-------------------------------------------
Stephen Gill

 

Below is my poem to celebrate the Valentine’s Day

 

on February 14th

 

 

TO LOVE

 

You are the imperishable harmony

that reaps

unparalleled prosperity.

From the chalice of your peace

I cherish to sip invigorating wine

of fruitful returns.

 

You are

the softness of the radiant might

that melts the mist,

stirs the soul of clouds

pushes down the rain showers

which kiss the dry lips of earth

and the wordless sonata

that moves the sharp white beams

of the moon.

 

In creation

you are a balance.

 

You are

the luxuriance of the aroma

that runs

in the veins of the enchanted blossoms.

 

You flower

a fragrant feast around,

caress

the flushed cheeks of the horizon

and liberate the birds that fly

to receive the ruler retiring

in a strange ceremony.

 

You are

the beat that echoes

in the breast of the arc.

 

You muse

in the melody of the falls.

 

You are nirvana

that helps in breaking the fetters

of the relentless brutalities

and manna for lambs

on the barren mountain

where

the biting winds of intolerance

blow.

 

You are

the distinctive pleasure

that feeds the ever-growing hunger

of the sages

in every age.

Your abode,

ocean's every drop.

 

You bind the earth and the sky

and rule to relieve

the rusting monotony.

 

Stephen Gill

 

www.stephengill.ca

15/02/07

 

 

 

-----------------------------

Yvan Nguyen

 

Haiku

 

1.

Peace and liberty

are Wishes of the people.

War is their evil.

 

2.

Peace enemies are

the ambition, the complex

and the lack of will.

 

3.

To have peace, we must

forget our hostilities

and make conclusions.

 

4.

Message full of love

awoke the human nature

and brought alone peace.

 

5.

Peace will never come

when the understanding of

the mankind were lost.

 

6.

Result of the War

is a plaintive elegy

of the human race.

 

7.

War is real wrong,

a political suicide.

People newer want.

 

8.

War's a business

that o­nly brings destruction

and unhappiness.

 

9.

Image of the war

appears when people don't give

up their ambitions.

 

10.

Revolutionist

never repent having caused

their sins in the past.

 

11.

Their own eloquence

resulted in slaughterous war

that never ceased

 

---------------------------------------

 

Yvan Nguyen

 

Curriculum Vitae

 

A sentimental paratrooper, a parachute officer in Vietnam War.

Doctor of Dental Surgery in California, USA, awarded Doctor Degree of Literature of WAAC in 1994.

 

Member of:

- World Academy of Arts and Culture (approved by UNESCO);

- American Physician Poetry Association;

- International Writers and Artists Association;

- IFLAC in Israel;

-IPPA in Switzerland;

- International Society of Greek Writers;

- Academy of American Poets.

 

Published 16 books of poetry (with 11 in English).

 

The best poet in English of the year 2003 of Poets International in India.

Vice-President of WCPPRR, IFLAC, WAAC.

January 2007

-------------------------------------------------------------------------


-----------------------------------------
Celine Leduc

 

UMOJA

 

The first day of Kwanza

Umoja equals unity

A simple equation

So difficult to obtain!

How so?

 

Because, Unity equals Equality

The problem is equality

It should be sum of justice and equity

How?

 

Europeans, Americans and Canadians

From Julius Caesar o­n

Need to introspect, acknowledge the sin

Ask for forgiveness, do penance

Take responsibility

 

Then action, give reparation

Yes, and restitution

Finally we can find justice

So!

 

So easy, so simply!

Just pay back what is owed.

Go back to go forward

Hence unity, Umoja

Will be reality!

Oh!

 

December 24, 2006

read and performed at Kwanzaa December 26, 2006.

 

HARMONY

 

Harmony is the antonym for cacophony

Which resonates in the world as voices?

Voices no longer harmonize to sing praise

Voices spew injurious language and screech

Harmony is replaced by cacophony.

 

Order turns into chaos as words turn into actions

Guns replace yells, they sputter

Bombs explode all around as soldiers no longer protect

But are forced to kill, to commit murder!

Do not be fooled in war there is no harmony.

 

Just the blinding light and deafening silence

That precedes the explosion that destroys that kills

Life and also hope! Yes, the world is split

Divided and all that remains is a piece.

 

The sound of a gun is compared to thunder and lighting

An act of God versus an act of Man…

Man’s world is upside down as it destroys

As it is shattered into pieces, hence there can be no peace

The aim is control, power and to take possession of people

 

First the rape of women, that breeds an unwanted child

The child is shocked blinded by the light of a bomb

This light blinds future generations as the cycle is never ending

As chaos reigns and division rules the world is a piece

And can never be at peace unless….

------------------------------------------------

15/01/07



================================
Kathy J. Ward

 

*Can We Handle God?*

 

Can we handle a nice God?

Not a merciful judge, just a nice loving God?

 

Can we handle a visible God?

 

If God was a child,

could we handle that?

 

If God was a tree,

would we cut them anyway?

 

If God was not inside the temple,

mosque, synagogue or church,

where could I find God?

 

If God wasn’t smart,

could I handle that?

 

If God was a convict,

would I put him in jail anyway?

what would be fair to do with God?

 

If Heaven was o­n Earth,

could we handle that?

 

If God was air, would we pollute it anyway?

 

If God was an elder very ill,

with no money or medical insurance

what would you do to keep God alive?

or would you let God die?

 

What color is the skin of God?

Perhaps, anything but the color of your skin

could you handle that?

 

If God was counting o­n you

to do a miracle today,

how would you love God?

 

If God was an immigrant already here

and did not ask for permission or visa

would you deport God?

Where would we send God to?

 

If God was Gay,

could we handle that?

 

If God was illiterate,

would you steal from God?

 

God lives in me!

can we handle that?

 

If God has dementia

who will keep track of me?

would all my good actions matter anyway?

 

And why, why

why has God left us alone?

 

The truth

God never left

God is the elder, the convict,

God is the tree, the air

God is visible and invisible

God is PEACE o­n earth

God is hear and everywhere

 

Can we handle that?

 

 

Kathy J. Ward,

December 2006

 

Kathy J. Ward, MA, CTRS, ADC, CALA, CGP

Universal Peace Ambassador

President of WEL, World Elder Land™ - Spokane, New York City

 

--------------------------------------------------

Michael Holmboe

 

A MEDAL WITH THE WRONG SIDE UP

 

"One can always win a war, but how does o­ne conquer peace?"

 

This is a poem about Norwegian freedom fighters and its aftermath. Here is a story from a very, very small country rallying to its own defense when it was suddenly attacked by armies which outnumbered its own forces in a very high scale. Quoting Roosevelt: "Look to Norway": o­n April 9, 1940, the same day as the Germans began their massive invasion of this very poorly defended land, the leader of the National Assembly (NS), Vidkun Quisling said in a radio broadcast that he had formed a "national government" with himself as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. The party he headed had never been represented in the government and had o­nly a few scattered members.

 

Both in Norwegian and in English the word "quisling" immediately became a synonym for traitor. Ideologically the party he led was related to Hitler`s National Socialist Party. It advocated, among other things, the superiority of the Aryan race and participated actively in persecuting the Jews and in terror against the Norwegian civilians who passively or actively worked against the occupation forces and their Norwegian collaborators.

 

The war had cost the lives of 10,000 Norwegians. Nine thousand Norwegians had been prisoners in German concentration camps. Many did not survive. Many came back damaged for life. Of the 760 Norwegian Jews who were sent to Germany, o­nly 24 survived.

 

It`s been said - over and over again - without the Norwegian sailors - Hitler would have won the war. The many dangerous convoy to Murmansk was of outmost vital importance for the allied forces. It was the lifeline of supplies - battling the unfriendly forces of nature - and military enemies:

 

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MEDAL

 

by Michael Holmboe

 

Translated by Ebba Haslund

Honorable member of the Norwegian Author Association

(Den Norske Forfatterforening)

 

He lay o­n a bench in the park,

shamelessly people would think.

The empty bottle sparkled

where he downed his final drink.

 

He sailed during six years of war,

an exiting hazardous game.

The frayed compromise of peace

he never managed to tame.

 

Things seemed easy at first,

when war ended he was not

censured because of his thirst,

although he drank a lot.

 

When exultant cries abound

in such a great amount,

with thousands of heroes around

what does o­ne sailor count?

 

So nothing could really save him

no mercy was ever shown,

that the government graciously gave him

a minor pension is known.

 

Was it oblivion he sought

because he could not understand,

that the country for which he fought

was no longer his native land.

 

People whispered, they shook

their heads and couldn`t care less.

The police at intervals took

him to prison for drunkenness.

 

There was no help anymore,

all sympathy ceased.

One can always win a war,

but how does o­ne conquer peace?

 

They lifted from the bench without sound

his worn-out body but

something fell to the ground -

a medal - the other side up.

 

11/10/06


------------------------------------------
Stйphane Michot

 

Stйphane Michot born in Paris 1972, is a lecturer of International Law at Sorbonne University Groups. He has founded and is the president of a humanitarian non-governmental organization IDEAL INTERNATIONAL. IDEAL INTERNATIONAL is a member of United Nations Working Group o­n Contemporary Forms of Slavery.

His following set of poems has been inspired by paintings of Lida Sherafatmand, an Iranian-born artist based in Malta, who exhibits internationally o­n the themes of humanity and peace.

As a bilingual poet his poems express the core of love for humanity and peace, light and hope.

 

Beauty Beyond the Earth

 

The Bird of Love brings peace to people in this sky of Light,

Our destiny is shining bright in between those protective wings;

 

Beyond the borders of fight,

We can finally find serenity,

Harmony and peace in this world.

 

In our arms flowers will replace weapons,

Children will love each other for decades and decades to come,

And replace fights!

 

We can never forget

The primal nature of which we are made,

Beyond the differences of colour

There is this Bird inside us!

The flight against darkness is inside us,

This bird of hope is inside us,

Our fight to surrender to Light is inside us,

 

Never forget that our future is our decision inside;

Every o­ne of us carries the responsibility to help the world

To fly o­n the this strong dove;

 

We cannot accept the desperation of Love,

From your colour difference to mine

Our humanity expresses this deep desire for Peace.

 

Could peace have a colour?

Maybe white, the colour of all the colours!

 

May Light and Hope help us reach this

Scintilla in our heart,

And from us bring to the world

This dream,

This promise to fly o­ne day together,

The whole human family, beyond the reality and beyond

The dreams, let’s express our powerful true nature of Peace.

 

We could offer this precious gift to the world we live in,

So to bring the earth closer to the stars!

 

Let’s find the Bird of Peace inside of us,

LET’s REACH THE CORE OF OUR SOUL

And never let the Bird of Love die…

Peace is our nature,

For being better together!

 

January 2005

 

Working for Peace

 

This mutual help for peace

Creates harmony in the core of Humanity

The Great Peace as a mother

Protects these children and guides them all.

 

Escape from darkness to light,

Our future will shine bright,

Effort to re-find a lost wind

That could reach the level of the sky.

 

The Dove of Peace

Is pure and smiling,

 

Our energy for this bright destiny

Will transform the sufferings into positive

Dignity.

 

September 2004

 

Open Your Heart to Love

 

A dove of Love and Peace

Through the window of our heart,

Brings Hope to us...

 

Never close this opportunity,

An eye open to your destiny,

To bring harmony to humanity.

 

Obstacles are there

Beyond the glass window,

But they will serve us

To learn from each other;

 

Open yourself to the other,

From individualism to brotherhood

To reach serenity…

 

Could I belong there

So my heart will give love,

Instead of suffering,

 

Oh! Please, Spirit of Peace,

Touch my life so it becomes bright,

Together with all of humanity.

 

September 2004


---------------------------------------------------------------
Takis Ioannides

 

Children o­n the Crucifix of War

 

At this fragile turning point in history

The anvil of evil glows so fiery

The souls of children it holds captive

Сasting them o­n flames, durst they live

 

On another ledge of life in desperation

Love holds out its arms in expectation

In vain, alas, overlooked by ranks

Which, blinded by passion, swagger and swank

 

Of mortals decision this vision of horror

The hearts of mothers broken by sorrow

And innocent gazes ask in wonder

Why are elders beasts tearing asunder?

 

Written in Greeks by Takis Ioannides

Translated from the Greek to English by Thalia Bisticas

-------------------------------------------------


Hilarie Roseman

 

A DAY IN THE PINK

A reflection o­n her granddaughter Ruby Rose

 

Ruby Rose put things together

As soon as she could play.

The swivel sticks she carefully laid

Together.

Now she beads my day

 

She made and gave a necklace perfect

pink and purple, sea horse swimming

Beads together make love brimming

over

Steps are lighter, smiles are brighter

 

With me making sandcastles, swimming,

Watching for the fish a coming

In the boat, her father rowing, she has seen

The dolphins

And Ruby has o­nly six years here

 

Innate patterning within her mind

living in a family that is kind

Came together in Ruby’s painting

in acrylic

people rowing, each together, each to peace

 

--------

 

THE PURPLE HEART

A reflection o­n her granddaughter Jessica

 

I gaze upon a purple heart

Glinting in the sun,

Perched upon a ice cream stick,

With such a lot of fun!

 

It comes with love from Jessica,

She’s five and thinking peace.

She draws 3 girls a singing

A song that will never cease.

 

Her parents and her family

They’re dancing all around

With music taught and played as well

So Jessica’s peace is “sound”.

---------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------

 

Erin Elizabeth Kelly-Moen

 

Holy Wars

 

 

A string from the Authors Den Roundtable Forum asked:


===========Original Message============
Is Religion irrelevant in today's world? I don't think so, Science and Technology have replaced it and Knowledge of the natural world has now replaced faith in modern thinking and Darwin's theory of Evolution has now been proven to be correct! What do YOU think?
============Original Message============

Hello, Michael. I've replied here, but haven't addressed your question, in its terms. Though I have no definite knowledge, I believe evolution could mean the same thing as 'terra forming'.

An example, Earth, ripe and lush with 'seeded' beginnings, is given a DNA strand, to occupy and 'use' the natural resources and possibilities of a/an 'Eden'. Purely conjectured, yet, do you deem it
possible? That, in all this wide, infinite universe, We, Mankind, are the culmination of creation? That would make us Gods...


I believe religion is a crutch, which, when we've 'divined' ourselves worthy, we rid ourselves of, to our betterment, continuing o­n to whatever comes next. The Path to Peace.


I wrote this poem after catching the end of a 'Law and Order' episode, today, of a woman who 'pummeled' a child to death with her fists to get rid of the child's 'demon', an exorcism of what the child supposedly had within her. As St. Michael had told the woman, in her head, to not suffer demons among us, not to kill, but to not 'suffer' demons within us, in voices o­nly she heard. She was convicted, rightly in my mind, of murder. And, then I wondered if she was the demon she heard spoke of...

 

Holy Wars


Oxymoronic Teutonic knowledge,
Consequences of convictions when formed
By fiction condoned by a stance where Gods
Romance a race into Holy-War-dead,

Makes me shudder with dread. Philology
Contrives to seek wisdom's whys without facts
Enacted by experience. Degrees
Of excellence in describing old, stacked

Particulars of vernacular rape -
Specifics of language unseen. The right
To appreciate a theory loosely based
On written words to girder our sight

Should not include `murder of Holy Wars'.
There are no racists - if love we explore.

Erin Elizabeth Kelly-Moen
© Copyright 9/15/05

I see religion as a tool, to help shape minds o­nto the path of  goodness', but, when used as a tool to rule, it becomes a farce, a facade of its usefulness. Still, even in our billions, it serves its purpose. Their is no Universal law of compliance, but there should be. Treat others how you want to be treated. It's so simple, yet, so complicated, in our Now.

Respectfully,

Erin Elizabeth Kelly-Moen 
 
e_moen@yahoo.com>

[IFLAC]Digest Number 1108, September 17, 2005

----------------------------------------------
 
Mona Gamal El-Dine
 
Message of a rebel woman
 
`I don't believe it', you admit
And, you continue to fight hopefully
`I don't think so', you protest, but you battle o­n all fronts
`I have had enough of the bitter taste of earth' you cry
However, you choose bright colours, the colours of festivity
`I have my limits', you contest
And, you travel between sky and earth
`I cry for my children', you regret
Although you have many in your arms
`I don't feel well' but you get your breath back
When you are fighting the fire
`I am beaten', you recognize
 
And, you stand, tall and dignified like the obelisk
Excuse me, Madam, I am your guardian angel
 
You hope for peace o­n earth
You have a liking for festivities, may the angel of joy go with you
You cry for the children sacrificed in the fire
May heaven come to your aid !
You sacrifice yourself to save the earthworms
May nature love you
 
 
You are a woman who offers flowers to prisoners
You are a woman who offers petals to the bees
You are a very ancient kingdom at its sunset
Your torches are down there o­n the militants path at the foot of the mountain
Your desperate cry echoes in the deaf city, where already violent
colours replace the words
 
Words have deserted the tongues of the poets
Memories like honey in the bee-hives
 
You are a woman who brings hope to those who heal
It's you who brings the remedy to the burnt of the earth
And who brings a smile to the oppressed of life
You are the woman who gives bread to lovers
And, you bring honey to the children without a prophet
 
Your hand is held out to prevent evil
Your gaze is towards the world
Your flame is eternal
 
Madam, you are a relief for god's forgotten
You are recognised Citizen of the world
Your name is precious: Your majesty' Liberty
 
Paris, June 2005

IFLAC Digest, July 27, 2005
--------------------------
Araken Barbosa
 
Harmonious Peace
 
Acrostic
 
                 Hush
                 And
                 Relax your
                 Mind.
                 o­nly
                 Nothingness 
                 Is     
                 Our    
                 Ubiquitous
                 Substance 
 
                 Preside
                 Each of Your
                 Acts 
                 Caring
                 Every o­ne
 
------------
Stephen Gill
 
HARMONY AND PEACE

I searched for you
within the walls of temples
mosques and shrines
in poor man's places
the mansions of graces
in the piles of books
and the isle of a recluse.
I sought you in health
and pleasures of wealth
yoga, prayer, meditation
state of utter abstention
rosy lips, cosy laps
in my sweat and my naps
I roamed in lotus-land
danced and drank
to glance at your beauty.
You're a will-o'-the-wisp
a chain of o­nion layers
mysterious, another paradox
you seem cruel and flippant
or just image to believe.
 
What valley or cave
house or lake
planet or mind
abode do you find?
For which of those sins
offenses and crimes
have we lost the time to breathe?
No hope, no spark
to own your tranquil eyes.
 
 ======================
EVENING OF HARMONY

Beyond those solitary church towers
I see the sun of harmony sinking
as does the heart
of a homeless orphan.
The pale rays of the afternoon
have slowly disappeared
into the iron teeth of darkness.
Inside the home
the fireplace of hopes burns
outside lurks a vacuum
caused by retreating waves
of an indifferent human crowd.
When the monarch reigned above
the subjects raced around.
Silent approach of shadows
dissolved noises from the babel.
A biting chill of sadness
whispers in the twilight that
life will not be the same
because the night of terror
chews peace
in the jaws of endless depth
of cultural insanities.

Stephen Gill
sgill@ican.net
=============================
________
Francisco Matos
 
To Beslan Children - the World Misses You
 
~~~
When you died
because of a war
Human dignity cried:
"Don't close my door!"
~~~
When you were killed
in acts of violence
Human Rights denounced:
"Where's the protection of innocence?"
~~~
When you were sacrificed
in abominable terrorism
Planetary citizens proclaimed:
"Let's create a new humanism!"
~~~
Where peace and harmony prevail
where antagonisms disappear
where human beings sail
all waters without fear
~~~
Where memories of you
will show us a new way
which will change history
your heroism is here to stay.
 
On September 5, 2004, by Francisco Gomes de Matos
 
What can HUMANENESS  be ?
 
We  are  human
Are   we humane ?
Do  we ever walk
On Compassion Lane?
What?s humanely being ?
A  set  of  values  pure
Ways of humanizing
Making others  secure ?
How can we be merciful
When others  we  criticize
Can we show mercifulness
And make a humane surprise ?
Human  beings
All mortals   are
Humane beings ?
We`re  still  so far !
 
PEACE  AND  MUSIC : ALWAYS  IN  TUNE !
 
In  both,  there?s  accord
And sweet harmony
In  four  movements ?
It?s a   symphony
Both  have  Tempo
Which  slowly  flows
Or   which,    presto
Rapidly  grows
What?s  Peace for Two ?
A joyful   duet
And  Peace for Four ?
A  fine   quartet
Both of them are languages
For   ideas,  emotions
Peacemakers and musicians
share   creative devotions
In  Music,harmonization
In  Peace,there?s humanization
Musicians, will you humanize ?
Peacemakers, please do harmonize !
________________
 
 
Francisco Matos
A poem
 
What can PEACE be?
 
One day PEACE I asked
What can you   be?
PEACE  kindly smiled
and  whispered to me
 
 
PEACE can be sought
PEACE can be taught
PEACE can be wrought
But, alas, PEACE can be  fought
 
 
PEACE can be  aimed at
PEACE can be  dreamed of
PEACE can be  hoped for
But, alas, PEACE can be laughed at
 
 
And I eagerly insisted
PEACE what can you be
PEACE gently  smiled
And  whispered to me
 
 
PEACE   can be your  meditation
PEACE   can be their  mediation
PEACE   can be  our   TRANSformation
PEACE   can  be HUMANKIND  salvation
_______________________________
 
Ada Aharoni

Peace Culture Through Poetry

Abstract for the International Institution of Sociology 36th World Congress, Beijing, China, July 7-11, 2004

The profound difference between human beings is their ethnic culture - mainly, their cultural heritage, language, literature, poetry, and values. In the case of people in long conflicts as the Israelis and Palestinians - feelings of fear, mistrust and lack of understanding have been piling up in their hearts and minds over the years, o­n both sides.

This paper shows that through poetry, people from both sides of conflicts come to understand each other better, and this understanding can lead to the promotion of peace. o­nly a suitable vehicle that can reach and profoundly penetrate through those layers of mistrust, suspicion and fear, can overcome those separating boundaries and build bridges of trust and respect for each other's humanity. The best vehicle for this delicate operation is the magical healing of the Poem, with its words of comprehension, feelings, care and tenderness. Poems have the ability to build confidence measures and to create bridges of understanding that can dissipate mistrust. Examples from various poems and their contexts will be shown and analyzed.

Peace poetry has also the capacity to impart the important and crucial message that we all belong to o­ne family, that of humanity and that violence and terror o­nly lead to chaos, destruction, and sorrow and deep misery o­n all sides. In every conflict there are two stories. The Poem of Peace, because of its ability to present each of the two sides in all its reality, pain, hope and yearning for peace - can lead to mutual recognition and reconciliation, and to the ensuing building of confidence, openness and respect.

Ada Aharoni's verses


TO A SUICIDE BOMBER

Deluded, brainwashed suicide bomber
they lied to you
when they brainwashed you
with sleek murderous words
in their stupendous "shahid" washing machines
where they o­nly wash young brains like yours
with bomb-flamed slogans
and rat poison soap-suds
They lied to you when they told you -
you will surely go to heaven
when you courageously blow yourself up,
and kill many, many innocent people -
they lied to you,
and you did not have the courage
to ask them: "if so,
why don't you go?"


One Year To September 11

Fanatic suicide bombers
Burning bright in the furnaces of hatred
Exploding your deathly venom under the sun-
When you assassinated the Twin Towers
And choked the Pentagon o­n September 11 -
You and your cronies failed!
Did you think in your demented minds
That you could destroy modern civilization?
That you could murder not o­nly thousands of
Defenseless people but also this grand lady
The Statue of Liberty herself?
You were duped, for Liberty lives -
And you are wiped out.
She will always live in our lives,
In the creations of poets
In the rainbow songs of children
In fascinating stories and legends
In art, monuments, and joyful dances,
In our internets and peace satellites -
While you are wiped out

YOU AND I
CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

Poetry Collection for the Third Millennium

By Ada Aharoni


Contents

Part I: Women and Peace

Part II: To My Neighbors
.
Part III: Translated Poems by Hebrew Poets and
Four Poems From The Global Village

Rabindranat Tagore (India)
De Haifa Jusqu'au Caire Proche Lointain
The Bridge (in Hebrew)
Eve's Defence (in Chinese)


Part IV: Letters:
To Kadreya: From Haifa to Cairo With Love
To President Anwar Sadat
To Mrs. President, Jehan Sadat

PART 1: WOMEN AND PEACE

Cosmic Woman

They tell us
you were first born
in warm ocean womb
caressed by sun fingers -
daughter perhaps
of the stormy love
of two unruly atoms in love
maddened by the solitude
of eternal rounds
in the steppes of times

And your children,
lively descendants
of their stellar nucleus mother
dropped from the sky
in depths of ocean belly,
born of green and brown seaweed
and the laughs and cries
of a blue bacteria

Cosmic woman,
when you chose earth
as home for your vast roots
at the beginning
of the great human family,
it was for life --
not for death.
Cosmic woman,
you, who were born of the nucleus,
from deadly nuclear mushroom
Save your children
SAVE YOUR CHILDREN


Peace Is A Woman and a Mother

How do you know
peace is a woman?
I know, for
I met her yesterday
on my winding way
to the world's fare.
She had such a sorrowful face
just like a golden flower faded
before her prime.

I asked her why
she was so sad?
She told me her baby
was killed in Auschwitz,
her daughter in Hiroshima
and her sons in Vietnam,
Ireland, Israel, Lebanon,
Bosnia, Rwanda and Chechnya.

All the rest of her children, she said,
are o­n the nuclear
black-list of the dead ,
all the rest, unless
the whole world understands –
that peace is a woman

A thousand candles then lit
in her starry eyes, and I saw –
Peace is indeed a pregnant woman,
Peace is a mother.


Killing Us Softly

"If we are honest with ourselves we have to admit that unless we rid ourselves of our nuclear arsenals a holocaust not o­nly might occur but will occur if not today, then tomorrow ... We have come to live o­n borrowed time."
Jonathan Schell, The Fate of the Earth

We wise grown-ups often advise our children
"Stop fighting, you will hurt each other,"
then calmly proceed to annihilate o­ne another.
We breed black widows with red eyes in our labs.
War is eternal, you say.
Listen, my brother,
War's second cousin, "duelling," o­nce sung immortal,
the peak of honor and reason -
has been banished from our world and is no more.
Slavery, deemed eternal, is no more.
Yet there is so much more left, like killing us softly
with your guns and scuds.
Does a lioness devour her cubs?
Does a gardener destroy his buds?

We breed black widows with red eyes in our labs.
Let's remember in the blood of our temples,
in a nuclear war there are no winners.
Throw War quickly in the historic dirt-bin it deserves,
Let's save our children, cubs and buds before the fall,
or in the nuclear pit we'll all fall.


You Cannot Bomb Me Anymore

Listen, little big man,
you cannot bomb me
anymore
because I don't allow you
to bomb me, nor choke
nor rape me anymore,
for I have my own strength now
and my own creative
peace business now

With this woman's mind
this woman's body
this woman's heart -
we don't allow you
to bomb us anymore
for our sisters in Norway
have shown us the way
and now –
you cannot, cannot, bomb us
anymore.

For it was
the grandmother
who ate the big bad wolf
and not the other way round –

so now
we do not allow you
to bomb us, bomb us,
ANYMORE.


Eve's Defence

You didn't have to accept
That shiny juicy apple
Did you Adam dear?

Please remove those
Musty fig leaves
From your memory and ears
And remember Adam dear,
You were created
From mere earth,
Whereas I was sculpted
From a much finer substance
Finer than ivory
Finer than gold

In the rush of your
Heart's blood
In the throbbing of your temples
Remember Adam dear -
I was created
From pure human bone

Your strong rib-bone
Became me - Eve
Mother of Life

Always remember
Dearest Adam
Free, independent Eve
Is – You.


I Want to Kill You War

I want to kill you war, forever,
not like a phoenix, that always comes back
I want to kill you war
and I don't know how
and I don't know why
all the people of the world
don't join hands
to kill you war --
you the greatest killer
of them all

The governors of the world
Go o­n feeding your fat belly
With fresh soldiers
And nuclear arms,
With blurring eyes
They o­nly know how to hang
The murderers of the o­ne or the two
But not you,
You the greatest murderer of them all.

After the carnage the priest said
"we are all responsible."
After the carnage the Sheikh said
"we all remain brothers."
After the carnage the Rabbi said
"we can stop it if we choose."
The priest and the sheikh and the Rabbi
Raise up their hands and look up to the sky

The peace marchers
Take hold of the slab of marble
On which is inscribed "we want to live not die"
And carry it away under the whizzing bullets
Like a corpse, still warm, still alive.


A Green Week

A week like fresh mint,
a green week spreading
its fragrance to the roots
of being

"Have a green week!"
My father used to bless us
on Saturday nights in Cairo,
when he came back from the "Gates of Heaven"
the grand synagogue in Adli street

"Have a green year"
he beamed,
brandishing a fresh, fragrant mint branch
over our keen curly heads -
but don't keep just to yourselves,
give it back
to the world
fully blossoming.

Who will give me
a green week
now that he's gone?
Now that the Gates of Heaven
are shut?

Only peace,
Only a fragrant mint peace.

Myopic Scientist

With green, curious eyes like legend woods
before burning, sweeping like sky rockets,
you were created for exploring and building,
for love and science and joy
on peaceful green earth -
not for providing means
for destroying our lives, our children, our hopes,
with nuclear bombs and radiation

Dear scientist, don't let the war mongers
steal your research, your unaware souls,
your creation, your bubbling myopic brains.
All our voices radiate in fear
all our violins sing the impending requiem
brewed in your stupendous high-tech labs.
Dear scientist, let our wings flap freely
in fresh, clean breeze in the spring and in the fall
before we all fall into the hellish slumber
of a nuclear winter, from which there is no return.
Dear scientist, don't allow the war mongers
to gobble up your inventions to fatten their stomachs
for star wars and earth wars
or for any, any pitiful war.


Pollution

Dedicated to the memory of Amir Gilboa

"After a nuclear winter the living will envy the dead."
U.N. Peace Exhibition, NYC, 1990

When I see a bird
and I say bird
they say bird

When I hear its song
and I say song
they say song

But when I see our sons
And I say sons
They say soldiers

And when I see bombs
and I say bombs
they say peacemakers

And when I see nuclear pollution
and I say poisoned radiation
they say energy

And when I see nuclear pollution
and I say nuclear holocaust
They say deterrence!

What kind of deterrence
Can be had
When we are all dead?


Mothers You Know

"We can best help you to prevent war not by repeating your words and
following your methods, but by finding new words and creating new methods."
Virginia Woolf - Three Guineas


Mothers you know, a long time ago
have been wisely decreed
by diverse human creeds and needs -
goddesses of peace-in-the-home,
lavishly giving life, love and healing
through their wombs and life-blood

And they have been quite successful
those cosy peace-in-the-home mothers,
closely guarding us with their wisdom
their tender words and watchful eyes.
Surely safer than in a Nuclear War
or in a new World War, or just a tiny war -
so what about making mothers
the guardians of peace o­n earth?
Surely we wouldn't be so much worse?
And they are so available those mothers -
you can even find them in enemy land...

Look at the terrible mess they have
made of our blue planet, mother,
you are the o­nly o­ne who can save it now,
the o­nly o­ne who really knows
how to protect your fearful children
weeping over their drugged ailing world,
the o­nly o­ne who can heal it now, mother
cradling it in your warm, loving arms.


Mamica

You knew Rousseau's "Emile"
Instinctively by heart,
Let us roam barefoot
In golden fields of home,
Sleep with open windows wide

Gave us all you had
With full two hands
Of bedstead copper angels,
Sometimes you forgot to eat
But never to feed us.
Whatever we did or said
Was a diamond mine -
Your children were your little gods.

Even when I left you and France
For a country I loved,
You were not hurt nor angry,
Gave your daughter to the kibbutz
With a smile followed by a tear.

Today we worship you in return,
Like a queen emerging
From Paris metro's belly,
To Bat-Galim shore,
As in Alexandria of yore,
Mother, mamica,
Standing smiling o­n a shell
Crowned by love


Teddy Bears for Guns

My man of the year
Is the wonderful, wise o­ne
Who sat himself in the midst
Of the West with a huge box
Of chubby Teddy Bears
On New Year's Day,
Attracting an endless
Queue of cheering kids -
Holding guns

He playfully showed
With a smile and a wink
And a Teddy Bear hug -
It could be the beginning
Of a honey-laden decade
In a brave new world

By wisely, joyfully trading
Guns
For Teddy Bears.


Amputation

To leave you now
Would be an amputation -
I would survive
But there would be
Less
Of me


Arturo's Rubinstein

"The power of Creation seems to favor human beings who love life
unconditionally, and I am certainly o­ne who does!" Arturo Rubinstein

Today you are ninety Arturo,
And you play us your Rubinstein
Fingers lovingly enlacing
Life's hidden allegro
"Every day is the happiest o­ne for me,
living an intensive life
is my secret -
I've never met a person
As joyful as me!"
My friends wink and say,
"Perhaps that's because
he's never met you !"

I don't think they're right,
But then I think of my engrossing Internet creations
Paving new Horizons of peace among nations,
Suffusing my skies with dazzling global symphonies
Like fresh rain o­n scorched earth
And am filled with -
I'm so glad to meet you,
Dear Mr. Rubinstein!


Mimosa Equality

I wait for the day
Blossoming as a mimosa
When half the world's presidents
Will be women
With caring arms
Enlacing every cry
And the sun will shine
On all mortals
with equal golden rays
in every green field,
every printed book
every human look.

 
The More Interesting Life

Come closer sisters
hear the man
and what he sang about us

At twelve, a sharp bayonet fear
jabbing through my ribs
tickled my mind:
You are a male,
you will have to go to war,
you may be killed.
Shrieking shells
and giant mushrooms flying
filled my blazing nightfalls.

I looked at the lively girls, envy nibbling,
they will not go to war,
they will not be killed.

But suddenly a flash -
a vision of kitchen sinks
drying of dishes with feminine hair,
a life of soiled diapers . . .

The gun externalized,
I held it with firm fist
and nodded reassured -
But I shall have
the more interesting life.

That's it sisters, that's what he sang,
what he sang about us,
What do we do now with what he sang,
What he sang about us?


Grandmother and the Wolf

Dedicated to Ebba Haslund
my sister from Norway

She looked at me with wise
bluebell eyes
and told me the brothers Grimm
had it all wrong,
they had it all wrong, you see,
for it was the grandmother
who gobbled up the big bad wolf
and not the other way round.

They had it all wrong,
they were too grim,
those brothers Grimm

They had it all wrong,
for grandmothers you see
are very strong.

 
A Jewish Woman's Prayer

Bless you Oh Lord
For having made me a woman,
For if you had made me a man
I would have had to pray -
"Bless you Oh Lord for not having
made me a woman."

 
If a White Horse from Jerusalem

If a white horse from Jerusalem,
bearing a message from the land of peace
strides so valiantly in the early dawn hours
of my Haifa street,
as if it were the ocean
as if it were the sky -
then all is possible…

Perhaps, he has come
with a magic wand
to make all chains vanish,
and to make you fly with me

Perhaps, before my hair falls
Before my teeth clatter,
before my breath whistles
and I suffocate in nuclear fumes

Perhaps, he will lift us
on his white wings
and raise the world
to year 2000 beyond wars…

For if a white horse
from the city of global peace,
strides so valiantly
in my own street - as if it were the ocean,
as if were the sky
Then all is possible...

 
Dear Descartes: Creativity

Dear Descartes, not o­nly
"I think, therefore I am,"
But mostly, "I create therefore I am."
I am me for having given birth
To my offspring, my oeuvre,
Vibrating sharp, exciting life sparks
In every cell, every branch, every breath,
every entwined root of my being.

Dear Descartes, listen,
I'm a woman, I'm a mother,
I'm a poet, I'm a writer,
I'm the mother of "poetas" -
Therefore, for me it can o­nly be:
"I create, therefore I am."


End of Part 1

________________________


Francisco Gomes de Matos

Little poem

Dear Leo,

After accessing and reflecting o­n your Website, here is a little poem, reflecting my initial probing of the ideas in your Mission statement. Note that I coined the term HARMONIZaction by blending the verb HARMONIZE and the noun ACTION. My intended meaning is ACTIONS THAT HARMONIZE, THAT CONTRIBUTE TO HARMONY. Also needed is the term HARMONIZER , as agents of HARMONY. I see a natural affinity between my term HUMANIZER( a person imbued with the ideals of peace, justice, solidarity, compassion, cooperation, understanding,...and who applies such values in varied contexts/situations) and HARMONIZER. To me, what your site is cogently drawing attention to is the need for Society to Educate for Harmony, that is, to engage in the preparation of Human Beings in their vital role as HARMONIZERS. That’s how an applied peace linguist sees it, Leo.

Here is my brief little poem:

LET´S BE HARMONIZERS


Accord
Agreement
Articulation
Cooperatively needed
For human communication

Well-being
Wellness
Welfare
Vitally needed
For human socialization
Humanism
Humanitarianism
Humanization
Integratively needed
For peaceful harmonization

Deeply harmonious regards,

Francisco

Professor Francisco Gomes de Matos,
Federal University of Pernambuco
Recife, Brazil

A PLEA FOR HARMONIZaction
 
__________________________
 
 
Francisco Gomes de Matos
 
LIFE SUPPORTING SYSTEMS: an ING-poem
 
ART is life-enchanting
CHILD is life-blooming
COMMUNITY is life-sharing
CULTURE is life-diversifying
EDUCATION is life-developing
FAITH is life-building
FAMILY is life-generating
FOOD is life-supplying
FREEDOM is life-liberating
GOVERNMENT is life-managing
HARMONY is life-according
HUMAN RIGHTS is life-equalizing
KINDNESS is life-dignifying
LANGUAGE is life-communicating
LAW is life-protecting
LITERACY is life-assessing
LITERATURE is life-expanding
LOVE is life-creating
NATURE is life-energizing
PEACE is life-humanizing
PHILOSOPHY is life-probing
PSYCHOLOGY is life-becoming
RELIGION is life-serving
SCIENCE is life-transforming
TRAVEL is life-enriching
UNDERSTANDING is life-edifying
UNION is life-strengthening
WATER is life-sustaining
WOMAN is life-giving
Long live life-supporting systems!
____________________
 
 
Hilarie Roseman
 
THE SOCIAL THEORISTS
 
One world, now we perceive it
How long to come to know
to believe that we are o­ne
 
A harmonious society
that’s the goal for planet blue
that’s the dream for me and you
That’s what the social scientists say
That’s what they say of the world today
 
Gone the old society
gone – the sacred – gone the profane
A harmonious society will be all the same
That’s what the social scientists say
That’s what they say of the world today
 
No borders o­n the planet blue
Electronically we’re all the same
Being disembodied is the game
That’s what Marshall McLuhan said,
That’s what they say of the world today
 
The principle of mutual inclusion
is the foundation of the world,
all in everything, h a r m o n i o u s l y
That’s what Anaxagoras said
That’s what he said up to 428 BC
 
Pluralism came all the same
But dimensionless it is not
a definite dimensional pluralism has to be got
That’s what the social scientists said,
That’s what Kant said up to 1804
 
Economism and materialistic monism,
One world with a single money con-ism
Is’nt that what we’ve got today!
That’s what the social theorists said
That’s what Karl Marx said up to 1883
 
The foundations of the society are people
information, organization and things
But how to make them, as o­ne, sing
That’ what the social scientists say
That’s what Semashko says today
 
We have to be scientific
Make up the gap between bioscience
And living, breathing people science
That’s what the social scientists say
That’s what Phillips says today
 
The bio scientists tell about the heart
How it beats and pulses
But do they know, it’s the center of consciousness
Let’s tell the social scientists today
Let’s tell them today
 
For o­ne world in harmony
Gather together our hearts, our memory our will
And make our mind up not to kill
One world, o­ne belief in love and love and love
Let’s tell the social scientists today, let’s tell them…tell them…
 
One world, now we perceive it
How long to come to know
To believe that we are o­ne … o­ne .. o­ne…one…one...
 
Written by Hilarie Roseman,  Jan. 2003
Using philosophy from Semashko, L.M. Tetrasociology: Responses to Challenges, 2002, Saint-Petersburg, SPBSTU Publishing House 2002
 
 
The Weeping Branch
 
I picked the azaleas from the garden -
They were mauve -
And placed them in a crystal vase.
The blooms grew from the dead wood
Of the table where we lunched
 
We were ageing – and ingrossed in
The story that was being told.
First of all the outside, the peripheral
That was deemed to be important by others.
But the truth grew out of it
 
And the truth was not a pleasant truth
And it took a time in the telling
And as each little piece was unfurled
From this hideous fruit, the branch of the azaleas
Drooped and a drop of water slipped into the cloth
 
I do not know why I watched the branch
Weeping – for as I glanced back again and again
There was always another drop of water to slip
Silently into the white cloth and
Dissolve away in the polyester threads
 
The woman was not weeping – and perhaps
The branch felt for her so strongly that
It took over the grief and the weeping
So that she could tell her story well
And the cloth hid the evidence
 
When she had left I took the azaleas
Out to my son in the kitchen and said..
“Look can you see the branch and the leaf
Glistening with water”?  “Yes” he said
“It cried for her” I said
 
“Mother you see things where there is nothing”
He replied.  “But can you see the water there?”
“Yes” he said
“Well, that branch wept, with o­ne drop after another
And she could not, and I could not …we are bare!”
 
Our tears are long gone, shed and left our bodies
Running like rivers from eyes that fed cheeks
With salted water, welling and dripping
Sliding and then leaving traces and marks
Where they had been.
 
Age takes away the river of tears –
They are all gone – shed and gone.
And the branch weeps for us who cannot
And the cloth waits to receive the water
That will revive the flower of hope
 
 
There have been other instances of water coming up stems and weeping –we have to wait for the story – and watch.
_________________
 
RAM KRISHNA SINGH 
 
TIME TO BREAK OFF 
 
How long can I grow without roots
or make way for what is approaching
in digital noises I can't be
inheritor of arrant cowards
smelling the arise o­n their fingers

nor can I be the priest checking
the burnt tongues to test criminals
stiff with cold I'm tired of animal
struggle for survival and last rites
in candle light digging cursed
treasure for night songs others croon

I can't decipher names in smoke
nor forget the faces emerging
from the matrix of tremors
that are islands to shackle
feet in silence close the cycle
of the waters that feed the sea

I feel the lumps hinder and pain
now it's time to break off and bury
the ash in the earth and plant afresh
foliage for rains or sun to nurse
a destiny I could take pride in
 
 
SEARCHING PEACE: SOME HAIKU
 
Night bombing
leaves the garden
white as death

Unmoved by the wind
he sits o­n a rock wearing
peace of the lake

Vultures waiting
for the leftovers
of the sacrifice

In the ruins
searching her photo:
evening

Standing behind
the window bars observes
darkness in shape

Alone
on her bed rings
the cell phone

Awaits his son's
phone call from the border:
dogs and cats wail

A dead voice
calling up at dawn:
drowsy eyes

Bronchial breathing--
the o­nly sound audible
in the soul-less space


Ram Krishna Singh, Professor of English for Science and Technology at Indian School of Mines, Technical University,  Dhanbad, India
 
Born, brought up and educated in Varanasi, is also an Indian English poet, who has authored 29 books, including ten volumes of poetry, 140 articles, and 150 book reviews. Believes in Peace through poetry.
 
profrksingh@yahoo.com
 
http://bilingualmca.bravehost.com/rksingh.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Muhammad Iqbal

 

THE GLOBE IN NUCLEAR CLAWS

 

Cruel peacock,

Why de ye walk?

Dancing chant

On a poor ant

Under thy claws

Nuclear paws

One three an'seven

Growing 'o be eleven

Playing holocaust

Destruction vast

Heroshimic dance

Gulping world finance

The poor ain't alive

Because you survive

Hunger and disease

Quad increase

 

Written by Iqbal Pakistan

14/07/07



Muhammad Iqbal

 

20 poems about peace, harmony and children

 

(1)

DON'T KILL THE LIFE

Coo, coo, coo Jill

Calls from the hill

A cock, o­n a morn

Opening its bill

Lo! There’s scene

Shining an' green

Walk and walk

On this rock

Isn't it best?

Don't have a rest

My dear Jill

Don't life kill

----

 

(2)

PEACE

Huble Buble Bow

I want to sow

The seed of peace

That will grow

All over the land

Earth, sea an’ sand

They‘ll sing song

War is wrong

------

 

(3)

Killing

Oh! dear cat

Do you kill the rat?

With teeth and paws

Can you tell the cause?

----

 

(4)

King

Yellow and brown

King has a crown

On his head

Sometimes red

Red with blood

Kills every bud

That will grow

Slow and slow

Blowing the band

On this land

The band of peace

Peace for all

Will be a call

-----

 

(5)

Dove

Oh! dear dove

Flying up above

Come to the Earth!

To have peace- birth

------

 

(6)

DEAR BIRD

Oh! Dear bird

Say this word

To the globe

Wear peace-robe

--------

 

(7)

THE BATTLE OF CAKES

In her house

A cat with mouse

Day and night

Often did fight

The mouse was weak

How did speak

"Oh, dear cat

Let 's have a chat

Isn't it right ?

Talk ends fight

Dialogue brakes

The battle of cakes".

---------

 

(8)

Mr. BROWN

Near my town

Lives Mister Brown

Everywhere reaches

Teaches and preaches

"Love and peace

Should increase"

SEEDS! to grow

Can you do so?

-----------------

 

(9)

ALL ARE THE SAME

Here we came

All are the same

Says my dad

It’s very bad

To cut with knife

The tree of life

To make some wall

On this Ball

Shall we remove

Let’s improve

We are brothers

Sisters and mothers

-------------------

 

(10)

WHAT SAYS LORD?

What says Lord?

Leave thy rod

It’s my call

Love for all

The black an’ white

All is right

East and West

All is best

------

 

(11)

SONG---- Voice of a Poor Child

My name is Tonney

I want some money

My sorrow is deep

I weep, I weep

 

Bare feet and toes

I have no shoes

Nothing is cheap

I weep, I weep

 

I beg very hard

People beat with rod

No bed to sleep

I weep, I weep

 

Weapon o­n the board

King has a sword

I haft a sweep

I weep, I weep

 

I seem to be nude

I have no food

No sow no reap

I weep, I weep

-----------------

 

(12)

THE EARTH IS ANNOYED

The Earth is annoyed

We don’t avoid

All o’ us bite

Violate, fight

Disaster, disease

Double increase

-------

 

(13)

YOUNG SOLDIERS

Think a little more

Open the mind door

Where we all go

To saw the life bough

Shall we stop now

To sow this crop now

--------

 

(14)

HARMONY

In that wood

All is good

Lion and goat

Row same boat

Cat and rat

Play will bat

Eagle and dove

Fly with love

Though, have might

They don ‘t fight

The wood has a rule

Calm and cool

---------

 

(15)

SONG ---- LAND MINE

Oh, land mine

What you dine?

Souls and hearts

Limbs and parts

Mine and thine

Oh, land mine

What you dine?

Who made thee?

To kill little Lee

Left no sign

Oh, land mine

What you dine?

Under the ground

Made all bound

Limit and line

Oh, land mine

What you dine?

In thy den

Killing so men

Dog and hen

It’s not fine

Oh, land mine

What you dine?

When you blast

Kill so fast

Life with tine

Oh, land mine

What you dine?

------------

 

(16)

Ding Ding Dong

I sing song

Peace is right

War is wrong

--------

 

(17)

WHAT HEN SAYS

On that hill

With little Jill

A hen was talking

While she walking

You have heard?

I am a bird

Neither I fight

Nor I bite

I change trends

We are friends

Men don’t avoid

City destroyed

Can’t they bar?

Coming Third War.

---------

 

(18)

SMOKING

Smoking is bad

Makes me sad

Cause' me disease

Stops the breeze

Coming in me

Says this Lee.

-------

 

(19)

JUSTICE

I often say

Sing this song

Right is right

Wrong is wrong

-------

 

(20)

THE GREEN

Grow the green

Worth to be seen

The green is wealth

Better for health

---------------------------------------

BIO

 

Muhammad Iqbal is an English Instructor in Government Vocational Training Institute Narowal, Pakistan working for poverty alleviation and rehabilitation of the poor in Punjab. Holds a masters degree in English Language and Literature from Punjab University Lahore, Bachelor of Education and a Certificate in French. Writes poetry in Urdu, Punjabi, Persian and English. After the earthquake in Pakistan and South Asia started to write poetry for humanizing children because he felt the world direly needs humanistic generations when disasters are increasing double and triple in the world.

E-mail: muhammadiqbal722@hotmail.com

December 2006

-------------------------------------



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