Amid our disutopian bubble
The suffering masses on white sand huddle
As tourists react with care and concern
Bikinied women and health workers learn
The refugees have come ashore
Weary, tired and forlorn
The clash of leisure and deprivation
Of suntan, and suffering, and dehydration
The haves and have nots meet at once
The beggars crash the rich man’s lunch

The sunglassed mirror
Of ruin and death
The youthful shock
The carnage met
The peaceful lives
Of style and grace
Shattered by a war
Of race
And so they drive
Amid the rubble
A new generation
See humanity’s trouble
The cell phones, car
And clothes belie
Stalled progress
Where the innocents die
The failure of talks
Behind closed doors
The option of peace
Pursued no more

Beyond tears there is hope
And a brand new tomorrow
Pass through the suffering
Let go of the sorrow
Stand on the rock
And from faith’s scenic view
Scan the horizon
Await all that’s new
Open your heart
To love and to giving
See the goodness of God
In the land of the living

There exists in this city
The town called Good
A different feel
From my old neighbourhood
No snow clad mountains
No brooding rain
But just flat rolling ground
On a lakeside plain
No vistas of grandeur
To lift up the gaze
Only concrete and steel
And brown laden haze
I had forgotten the mountains
With their mist laden sides
I‘d forgotten the beauty
But I could decide…
So I remembered the sunshine
The springs soft and mild
The play time, the forest
The games of a child
I remembered the berries
Delicious and sweet
That grew in the forests
And at the sides of the streets
I remembered a family
United, together
I remembered a father,
But not rainy weather
I remembered the friends
And the fun that we had
I remembered the sunshine
Before I was sad

Another place
Another time
Reunion of family
And thoughts that bind
Memories of past
And struggles anew
The future recast
In different hues
Of current events
And change and decay
Of inner renewal
And fog shrouded days
And visions of clarity
That suddenly reveal
Snow covered peaks
That once were concealed

There is no them
There is just us
No boogeyman
No vile foe
There is no evil
Save what’s common
In all of us from head to toe
Unbroken cycles of misery
Hatred upon hatred
Piled deep
And we wonder why
It happens
That our cities
End up in heaps
Let’s end the division
And work together
No either/or
But also/and
Let’s reach across
These manmade barriers
And listen to
And understand
We’re not going to solve
Any problems
If we point our fingers
And lay the blame
If you work for peace
And solutions
You drop the labels
And the names

The wedding partyIn garden’s twilightThe gowns, the flowersThe flashbulb’s bright lightBeyond the fountainThe horizon’s edgeAnd a chain link fenceAt the cliff’s top ledgeAnd down belowShimmering in wavesA final presentOn a perfect dayDancing moonbeams Of a full orbMesmerizing, beautifulThe scene absorbsAnd all who gazePonder the sightOf the kiss of wavesBy soft moonlight