"peace in our time"

(I get it.) Sky’s blue, night should be black.
Blood is red while the mind strives to be white.
Ulster's British orange, IRA green.
Adopt the childhood meaning of yellow.
A nation renamed Neville Chamberlain
once called United States of America.

Throw the black man out!
Keep the White House white!
Let the children die
here and there, Connecticut, Syria . . .
(I play Let My Children Hear Music,
by that dove Charles Mingus.)

As for war (the nowhere man would say),
remember how Nazis and Fascists
perfected the technology of death
in Spain. How the Jews were turned away
in ships seeking asylum in Liberty’s shadow.
The country cries, Peace! Old Death smiles.

(8 September 2013)

copyright 2013 by Floyce Alexander