Poem for the International Day of Peace

By John Frederick Kaufman on September 21, 2015

By Eva Rinaldi from Sydney Australia [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

By Eva Rinaldi from Sydney Australia [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

“International Day of Peace (“Peace Day”) is observed around the world each year on 21 September. Established in 1981 by resolution 36/37, the United Nations General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples. Furthering the Day’s mission, the General Assembly voted unanimously in 2001 to adopt resolution 55/282 establishing 21 September as an annual day of non-violence and cease- fire.”

By John Kaufman

If war can be shed, if we can agree

to remove the uniform

for a day or an hour or even

a minute then whatever we said

we heroically wore unravels

as when one pulls a loose thread.

Because war is a shirt

stitched tight like a chain,

each building upon the other one’s pain,

someone must risk

letting go of the link, just one