I lived in a war zone
Streets filled with razor wire
Nothing much to cling to
Nothing to inspire

On one side was my enemy, and
Filled with angst and hate
I lobbed all sorts of insults
The war would not abate

But one of my neighbors
Suggested that I find
Some forgiveness in my heart
To give me peace of mind

And so I started cleaning
Picked up all my waste
Swept up in all the corners
And found peace at last!

Across the street they saw plain
The white flag I errected
It was a thing that gave them pause
Not what they expected!

They threw trash, and they threw dirt
Upon my sidewalk paved
But i expect that I just swept
And gave a friendly wave!

After a while of this response
They were in retreat!
They could never get a rise!
They knew their hate was beat!

And so together as one
We removed the razor strands
And had a big BLOCK PARTY!
We even had a band!

And so "us" and "them"
Finally became "we"
No more HATE! Isn't that GREAT?!!

*At last we're finally FREE!


"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they
shall be called Children of God."
Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount


SoulSurvivor aka
Write of Passage aka
Invisible inc

Catherine jarvis

I'm skipping stones across the lake
with my eyes closed
and now I can only see you
in a drunken dream.

I'm searching for the lost song
and the melody I knew
before your eyes had died.

the words I didn't say.
the strings of the lost cords
seated in sorrow, sometimes joy,
lost in tomorrow's rain,
found in a photo alblum.

the thinly stretched cords in 1/4 tones.
the rhythms from your heart beating.

the tender touch of vibrating strings.

Trapped in flesh encasing the soul
wrapped in cancerous crust
residue of empty     fleeting oppressive
carnal thoughts and pleasures

Slowly bound as a fly in a web 
Small grains of poison neverending droplets of rain    
harmless attractions
Unseen the process
clearly seen the results

Many of these to be trapped in
many pleasures build houses
of pain     many webs    much poison    and a lot of rain

Many days become many
years    What is out of sight
still weakens spirit and mind
All experienced in the body
the flesh imprisoning the soul

Trapped in this flesh encasing the soul
a chrysalis in putrid
cancerous crust
SUDDENLY birthed as a New Creation of
spirit and mind made whole
Not perfect       but whole

Escaping as a fly from the ensnaring web
one grain of sand     small compared to mountain
Small steps of faith
unseen the process
clearly seen the results

Many cocoons to transform
in      many steps of faith to
take       many webs to avoid
many webs to escape

Much poison to grow
immune to       much rain
many days
All experienced
in the body
the metamorphosis of
the soul.