“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children...it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”
– Dwight D. Eisenhower April 16, 1953
Transform bombs into bread
bullets into healing balm
Humvees into the milk of human kindness
missile silos into safe havens
countries into contiguous oceans of compassion;
cradle the babies
feed the mothers
employ the fathers
import hope where insurrection reigns
morph guns into goodwill
drench conflict in the nectar of diplomacy
exile famine, banish war, disassemble warships
bring suffering to its knees
abolish profiteering, rape, torture
dismantle the iron cross of cruelty
nurse our bruised & battered limbs
replenish our emaciated spirits
sweeten the sweat of laborers
restore the souls of politicians, their backbones, too
voice outrage, demand justice
educate the young, cultivate kindness
honor every color, every creed
abandon all plans of global annihilation
make hatred & bigotry obsolete
begin each day with silent prayer
sow peace with every breath.
This poem has been posted in response to the Bloggers Unite challenge to bloggers everywhere to report on Acts of Kindness on December 17.
Mary Saracino is a novelist, poet and memoir-writer who lives in Denver, CO. Her short story, "Vicky's Secret" recently won the 2007 Glass Woman Prize. Mary's most recent novel, The Singing of Swans (Pearlsong Press 2006) was a finalist in the 2007 Lambda Literary Awards.