Peace (Always a Billion Miles From Where You Are)

One day I asked this old man,
who was stand in the sun, and writing in the sand.
I said “Tell me where I’d go to find peace?”
“I think am a little lost if I might say the lest.”
He just looked at me and pointed to the horizon.
I was hoping he’d  point to some place I’ve never been.
He said “Son, peace is about a billion miles away from here.”
“This whole country is just an island drowning in fear.”
He said, “Go on and get out while you still can”
“Before you become another son of a gun for the man.”
I said to em, “Hey mister I’m not looking for trouble.”
he said “ Trouble will find you if you don’t get out on the double.”
“This world will turn your life upside down.”
“Get out before your mama and daddy be laying you down in the ground.”
“Son, you’ll notice there ain’t  no country with a flag that spells the word peace.”
“They’ll be fighting no matter if you’re in the west or the east.”
The old man picked up his  stick, and continued writing in the sand.
He said, “Don’t just stand there son, give me a hand.”
“I’ll show you the only real thing you can do”
“You can’t go looking for peace.”
“You got to let it find you.”


   

Author's Note

If you can read this and understand,
one day you'll find all the peaceful people in one place,
writing in the sand.

Reviews

[Emily B]

if you fabricated a conversation such as this, I might marvel at your wisdom . . . if you are relating real words found in the sand then you shared beautifully

either way, I'm glad I came to it

[Eric Cox]

Violence is a sad reality. Cool poem. Very nice pen on this.

[Starr]

I could see this old man and hear him loudly as he scribed in the sands. Great visual detail and a lot of wisdom in this piece. Really nice flow, it read so smoothly. Very enjoyable read.

"You got to let it find you" - I'll take that little piece of peace away with me. ;~)