Denise Levertov wrote this wonderful and I think it is a good way to bring my week to an end as I head to Sabbath. Stephen at Grow Mercy posted this earlier and I did try to share it with those who follow my blog. It did not make it over and this was the next best thing I could do to get it to you folks. Take a moment and visit Stephen’s blog.
I used a lesson plan with my students where we talked about a culture of war and a culture of peace. They had to describe each one and we did them separately. We have many more words that come to mind when we talk about peace. I filled whiteboard, they would share for an hour, be disappointed when it was over, and the quiet ones were always present. There is a presence in peace. The students ran out of ways to describe a culture of war very quickly.
A voice from the dark called out,
“The poets must give us
imagination of peace, to oust the intense, familiar
imagination of disaster. Peace, not only
the absence of war.”
But peace, like a poem,
is not there ahead of itself,
can’t be imagined before it is made,
in the words of its making,
grammar of justice
syntax of mutual aid.
A feeling towards it,
dimly sensing a rhythm, is all we have
until we begin to utter its metaphors,
learning them as we speak.
A line of peace might appear
if we restructured the sentence our lives are making,
revoked its affirmation of profit and power,
questioned our needs, allowed
long pauses. …
A cadence of peace might balance its weight
on that different fulcrum; peace, a presence,
an energy field more intense than war,
might pulse then,
stanza by stanza entering the world,
each act living
one of its words, each word
a vibration of light–facets
of the forming crystal.
Teacher as Transformer 
Beautiful poem. I would like to say that in order for peace to continue, period (.) has to be eliminated…
The visuals are so vivid in the wording.
“A line of peace might appear
if we restructured the sentence our lives are making,”
Very provocative thought. Worth chewing on during your Sabbath!
It was.
I agree that how we use language changes our vision of how we see the world and each other. Thanks for sharing this.
You are welcome and thank you for the lovely comment.
Beautiful poem. Very True to it’s wording.
The imagery is so vivid and brings out such a powerful message.
“each word a vibration of light” – I love this sentiment. I would be remarkable to write like this!
It is a beautiful poem that uses such vivid imagery and thoughts.
Words can change the world.Beautiful post
Thank you Katherine.
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Thank you Tony. This is greatly appreciated.