When a hail of bullets sweeps past ears
when shouts of hatred thrown like stones
my heart sinks into the deepest mine of night
and digs out of ancient echoes
Throughout human history
we are accustomed to raging wars in wars
growing hatred in hate
War and hatred have become our lifelong career
We praise it with all the rhetoric
We mold it into the wheels of history from blood and fire
allowing it to roll over us mercilessly
and over our posterity
We kill in the name of God
or in the name of the nation, of the people
On lifting the manhole cover of history
we hear the weeps and screams from the bottom
we see the bloody ghosts
rising like a plume of smoke
framing a shadow of time in our hearts
Any behavior beyond the cycle of violence
will be treated as a betrayal by one’s own tribe
We reject compromise and tolerance
We only see the speck of sawdust in others’ eyes
paying no attention to the plank in our own
When will this endless revenge ever end?
With all the options we face
will we follow the call of the rational mind
or to be driven by combative fury?
Do we have the courage to pass through the tombstones
bowing to pray for humanity and peace between nations
and reject the culture of violence?
Can we invite the comforter beyond to come
to heal our trauma and bring us the hope for a new life?
Do we have enough wisdom to break the vicious cycle of history
to open a new path to life?
Can we face the wounds of the past
sitting down calmly with our enemies for a dialogue
to seek a way towards reconciliation?
I don’t know if this is going to happen
but I am hoping and preaching in this way
to let more people know
within the diverse options of reality
we can reject war and choose peace
we can transcend generations of violent confrontation
to end the bloody cycle of history
fueled by the education of hatred
I shake my sweaty fist
but finally put it down gently
I rush impulsively with rage
but pull back my steps in the end
My tongue is spewing fire of anger
desiring to burn the enemies
and wipe out the misery past
but I bit my tongue and sealed my lips
For preaching peace against violence
I know I must pour cold water on myself
instead of adding fuel to the fire
We seek to blow up ourselves
because the obstacles are inside us
becoming the obstinate fort against reconciliation
We aim to destroy the fort by breaking ourselves
to pave the way for a newborn self
to take a new perspective to examine human conditions
We cannot change the world
without first changing ourselves
Once on the road to reconciliation
we become the wall between violent conflicts
and could be shot at by both sides
We will be bruised and scarred
and even sacrifice our lives for reconciliation
Yet our prayers and cries will be heard:
Do not let us live in hatred
Do not start a new cycle of violence
Do not pass the suffering of one generation to the next
and let the shadow of death suffocate their minds
The route to reconciliation is long and winding
It merges into the stormy river of history
It flows past the frozen shore
where we sing a song of reconciliation
The melody deluges in our hearts
and wash away the world divided by hatred and violence
We will see spring blossoms once the chill passes
and slaughtering weapons being forged into plows and harrows
A white dove will descend from a cloudless sky
with a green olive branch in her mouth