it sure was the crux of the world
that nobody thought they were heard
so they shouted much louder
to drown out the other
noise about which nobody cared

the way I consider the world
as one who has rarely been heard
is through a glass darkly
no matter how sparkly
or bigly the presidents fared

in meadows finally released
from the cold grip of snow
spring flowers look so pleased
so happy they can grow

their leaves unfold
their shiny blossoms bring
bright colors back into our world
and make all birds sing spring

the United Nations
ever and again call to raise billions
to help countries devastated by war
or other mostly man-made catastrophes

I suggest we operate by the causality principle:

the countries who sell all those arms
    and military support to the warring parties
    or leave the natives no land to grow their own food
simply use the money gained from their sales and appropriations
to help the refugees they created
    build up all the cities their weapons destroyed
    provide a living for the farmers whose lands
         have been sold to agrobusinesses
    pay for the education of all the children
         unable to have schooling
    reconstruct the societies their greedy actions destroyed

sounds like a fair proposal

doesn‘t it??

women need men like fish need bicycles

talk not to me
of the reality that media shoot
at me from morn to evening

not of catastrophes or cruelties
humans inflict upon each other
with never-ending venom

speak to me of the delight
a newborn gives its parents

the joy and pride a child feels
mastering its first challenging task

the sudden sparkle in the eye
of refugees when finally they have reached safety

the wordless joy when two have found each other
and for a time need nobody else

speak to me
of all the moments in our daily life
that make us proud to be human

our classic tales of war and victory
tell stories of substantial gains
in land, human resources, treasures,
from Homer, Cesar, Charles the Great,
to Ghengis Khan, Napoleon,
the Spanish, then the British empires, etc.

today, dictators are delighted over victories
whose gains are endless miles of rubble
      shown on television
devastated cities bombed into oblivion
     that will take decades to rebuild
     and populate again
hundreds of thousands people killed
     mostly women, children, and the elderly
     who could not flee in time

how can one who has been the source
of so much suffering and devastation
     harvesting bombed-out cities
     laced with corpses
claim victory?!