Peace on Earth

Stop! Don’t aim! Don’t shoot! Listen…
It could be me: your teacher or classmate…
It could be me: your neighbor, your friend…
It could be one of my sisters, anonymous and veiled,
Struggling with her burden and her fate,
Dragging her lonely life along.
It could also be my brother,
Carrying the responsibilities of a lifetime…
Having several mouths to feed…
Will their deaths satisfy you?
Make you safer and more secure?
Will the destruction of my country
Make the world a better place?
Is it worth bearing the guilt of murdering,
Maiming, burning, and destroying?
Will the innocent blood of children, flowing
Like rivers, make the world safer?
Will gun smoke create anything but Hell?
Will the deafening explosion of grenades
Ever be erased from your memory?
Will the children, growing up orphans,
Ever stop cursing your name and
Blasting your presence on their land?
Will their widows ever cease blaming you
For their ordeal and predicament?
Forget about Power and Greed!
Forget about Hatred and Cruelty!
Forget about warmongering!
Don’t join their ranks.
You may end up hating yourself!
Don’t replace the sunshine with raging fire.
Don’t replace the birdsongs with gunshots.
Don’t replace Peace with War!
Don’t turn trusting people into fearful animals.
What kind of world would that be?
Aren’t we all the same, after all?
We are all brothers and sisters
Carrying the same burden,
Sharing the same cares, the same worries,
Having the same hopes and dreams?
Stop! Don’t aim! Don’t shoot! Listen…

© Djehane Hassouna, 2005

Rainbow of Emotions, page 153 

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Introduction:-

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