Invocation

this call to peace
does not use words we know
it is beyond language

we launch it
into the thin air of hope
where no echo lives

this invocation issues from our lips
our hands our movements
it is wholly transactional
this call to peace


Conflict and Resolution

it starts with uncertainty
continues with doubt
Can black be white
is day night?
We can make it so
and so it is
we say we write until
it becomes our faith
our truth our right

and so resolved
that black is white
and day is night
we soon forget
that others might
see it
differently

so to live in some accord
we have to temper
our resolve
(that day is night
that black is white)
and live within a twilight zone
a chiaroscuro world.


The Instrument of Peace

plucked from silence
the note of the guitar
resonates round its body
brought so close to the heart

held as a lover in our arms
the hands make harmony
sound out chords
for the singer’s song

Oh instrument of peace
hanging on the wall
of our simple home
play for us now


The Peaceful Mind**

a template of fingers
intersect each sounding string
and with every change of shape
fresh possibility ensues

those re-entrant tones held above
the resonance of open strings below
set up rich suspensions
peculiar with dissonance

gently struck arpeggios
revolve in patterned repetition
this loom-made garment of sound
to clothe the peaceful mind