Peace and War

. 
Peace and War
.
The silence and the summer sun
On California’s coast,
The rustling of the leaves of trees,
The distant, passing train,
.
The letting go of everything 
Of which I once could boast,
The touching by the cooling breeze,
The easing of the strain,
.
The blue of sky, the green of leaves,
The warmth of sun on skin,
The calling of the bird I hear, 
The sway of grasses tall—
.
These all combine and so provide,
Within this world of sin,
A music of the eye and ear
That brings relief to all.
.
******
.
And yet, the all-devouring greed
Will rarely pause to taste
Of all of this that beings need,
While laying more to waste. 
.
So wealth will flow, accumulate,
And bombs will fall and burst,
As burnings rise, along with hate,
And children die of thirst.
.
****** 
.
I call to those who've closed their blinds
To open windows wide
And look, with open minds and hearts,
Across the harsh divide—
.
To see that children, everywhere,
And women, are the same—
That sentients feel of grief and pain,
As humans should of shame.
.
2024 July 15th, Mon.
Berkeley, California
.

Typhoon

Typhoon

Dreaming, in the time before the dawn,
I heard a woman crying, “All is gone!
My husband and my daughters and my sons,
My mother and his mother – and the house...
And I am here – and searching, crazily.
But where are they?”

I could not answer.  All around were strewn
The wreckage and the litter of the storm.
The corpses still were rotting – and their stench
Befouled the air and sickened every breath.
Her eyes beseeched, with hints of lunacy,
But I stood mute.

And then I woke, as light was streaming in.
And when I breathed, the air was cool and fresh.
But I remembered well, what I had dreamed.
I saw that face – and felt that helplessness.
And so, at school, I gave my dollars ten.
But where were they?

2013 Nov. 16th, Sat.
Brooklyn
          
http://care.org/emergencies/typhoon-haiyan

https://www.rescue.org/donate/typhoon-haiyan

http://ifrc.org/typhoon-haiyan