Let There Be Peace - Lemn Sissay

Let There Be Peace 

By Lemn Sissay

Let there be peace

So frowns fly away like albatross 

And skeletons foxtrot from cupboards, 

So war correspondents become travel show presenters

And magpies bring back lost property, 

Children, engagement rings, broken things.

Let there be peace 

So storms can go out to sea to be 

Angry and return to me calm, 

So the broken can rise up and dance in the hospitals. 

Let the aged Ethiopian man in the grey block of flats 

Peer through his window and see Addis before him, 

So his thrilled outstretched arms become frames 

For his dreams.

Let there be peace 

Let tears evaporate to form clouds, cleanse themselves 

And fall into reservoirs of drinking water. 

Let harsh memories burst into fireworks that melt 

In the dark pupils of a child’s eyes 

And disappear like shoals of silver darting fish, 

And let the waves reach the shore with a 

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Keeping Quiet - Pablo Neruda

Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.

For once on the face of the earth,
let’s not speak in any language;
let’s stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.

Fisherman in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.

What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.

If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.

Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.

                                  by Pablo Neruda

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12"