This world I was born into seems

Strange, empty; void

Of everything but greed and hate

And wars, crime and death

I searched around for that word ‘love’

But failed to find it here

All I see is acres and acres

Of destruction all around

Where are the trees they speak of

In the text books back in school?

Why can’t I hear the tune of birds

Singing their odes tonight?

What’s a nightingale, where can I find

A tulip or a rose?

And what, oh what,

Is this rainbow

Of peace that they speak of?

My life seems clad in black and white

But my heart speaks to me

Of something else beyond that cloak

Something made of ‘colours’

Is it normal for me to have

Memories of a time

Way before I was born, one filled

With peace and love?

They must just be dreams of a time

That I yearn for with all my heart

For I do not want the luxuries

Of pain and dominance

They seem useless without the toils

Of tolerance and love…

So to all of you from the past, the ones who were fighting then,

Listen to me, this is a plea

From the years ahead

Cherish the moments of peace, and remind yourself

That harmony is not simply

A word to throw away,

It is the elixir of life, the reason you now live

Without it you are nothing but puppets,

In the hands of time and death.