We must love one another or die.
                September 1, 1939, W. H. Auden

“PEACE WORK”

That we must love one another or die,
Auden cautioned us eight decades ago,
a strategy the human race might try

to deliberate with more than a sigh
of impatience, or an I-told-you-so.
If we must love one another or die,

we should engage those who’d rather stand by,
should proclaim the Other need not be Foe,
a policy the human race might try

instead of offering rebuff or stink eye.
See the person beneath the so-and-so,
if we must love one other or die.

Reach out, don’t label, black list, classify.
Let your kindness abound and over-flow,
a discipline the human race might try.

Why give our very best instincts the lie?
Why file hopes for peace in an escrow?
That we must love one another or die
is a practice the human race must try.

Chris Boldt
Temple, TX
2017 Art of Peace Anthology

“SAY THAT”

In the census of cynics
and those who wish
for wars to end or men to see
beyond their cruel greed,
do not write our names.
Say that we have always known
wishing is not enough.

Instead, count us as laborers,
public servants, people who love
struggling children into new lives,
parents who pray for the safety
of families we have never met,
people willing to pay the price
to build peace in other places.

Say that we live eager
to share a meal or a mile or smile,
that our hearts cross borders
to resist the world’s bullies.
Speak our dreams as promises
to the neighborhood of nations
that our doors will always be open.

And when the time comes
for us to answer for our actions,
explain our sacrificial choices,
tell our stories, hold our truths,
resting in the legacy of living peace
and inspired by so many others,
let us respond by asking,
What else could we do?

Anne McCrady
Tyler, TX
2019 Art of Peace Anthology

“WRITING BRAVE AND FREE”
after Ted Kooser

Alone in libraries or coffee houses
before dawn, after dark,
by light or not
the muse of tomorrow sits beside
her trove or struggling writers
whispering to their souls.
Look to those struggling
to speak freely
cry out against tyranny
deifying curfews
gathering in forbidden groups.
These are your stories
listen to their pain
capture their dreams and aspirations
in word
write for those who are brave
but not free.
Write for Peace.

Michael Owens
Cypress, Texas
2014 Art of Peace Anthology

“BEING”

In desert place
or verdant turf,
near high rocks
or lively surf,
be the garden,
be the seed,
be the one
who meets a need.
Be peace potential
daring chance.
Be the harvest.
Be the dance.

Jackie McVey
Tyler, TX
2018 Art of Peace

“ALL HOME”

where faith marries tolerance
where freedom chooses moderation
where indignation bleeds forgiveness
where tradition cheers creative air
where inner ethic out-lawyers law
where power unfolds its cloak for plight
where rote concedes to inspiration
where noise subsides at any song
where all bravado dissolves in prayer

take us all home
we want to live there

Judith Austin Mills
Pflugerville, TX
2015 Art of Peace Anthology

“LIKE A BRIDGE”

Lord, so many people are hurting,
not just here, but all over the world.
How can You bear to see it all?
Some suffer physically
from injury, illness, want.
Others suffer in ways only You see,
psychologically, spiritually,
but all stand on a shore, an edge,
somehow needing to crossover
to a place of safety, healing.

For centuries, bridges have been used
to get from one place to another.
Some of those hurting may only need
to cross a stream, or river, but others
face wide expanses of wild waves,
or a seemingly bottomless chasm.
Take me, and others who are like-minded,
intertwine, fashion us into a bridge,
whether long or short, vine or steel.
Let us help some suffering soul
cross safely to the other side.

Catherine L’Herisson
Garland, TX
2015 Art of Peace Anthology

“THE UNITY MEETING”

By working together, with everyone contributing what they can,
a greater good is achieved.
– Stone Soup

She sits at the library table,
masked and properly distanced.
Though weary of the chaotic discord,
she resists stagnation, urges her mind to flow
in the direction of determined action and attitude,
to do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God.

The voice from the next table
speaks with an accent of awakening.
You must educate yourself.
To live as welcoming, inclusive people
calls first for awareness of history,
acknowledgement of our roots.

Tune your heart to hear the stories:
Indian lands were stolen from my ancestors.
My aunt swam the Rio Grande.
My grandfather arrived as a stowaway
hidden in the bottom of a ship.
Grandmother was born into slavery.

This is a reset, a revolution, she thinks, a resolve
to listen, appreciate one another, as we are, where we are,
resist us-versus-them assumptions,
blend our unique talents and spiritual gifts
for the benefit of all.
She is at home in the melting pot.

Carol Thompson
Tyler, Texas