An Eye for an Eye

What will it take to overcome

The anger, the constant retaliation,

The frequent demand of an eye for an eye,

The bellicose leaders and war-caused starvation?

 

What will it take to put an end

To built-in hatred that's centuries old,

To never-ending power plays,

To warring factions that can't be controlled?

 

What will it take to stop the many

Proxy wars that kill and maim

Innocent people who then become

Collateral damage in a war game?

What will it take to persuade intransigent

People with power to compromise--

To strive for peaceful solutions by seeing

The world through more compassionate eyes?

 

What WILL it take? Is it beyond

Our human capacity to know?

Is it part of our DNA

To always have to battle a foe?

 

And if there's a god who could intervene,

He/She/It must be horrified

To watch the battling parties at work,

Each one thinking a god's on its side.

 

-by Bob B (9-24-24)