J. Anna Sappington-Sandidge

I CHOOSE PEACE

I choose peace
Because I have walked
Through the crystalled silence
Of the battlefield and
Seen the frozen screams
On fading faces, violence
Committed for the sake of peace.

I choose peace
Because clichéd sales pitches
Can’t buy happiness,
Secure happiness, manufacture happiness.
Because capital gains mean
Loss of humanity in sweatshops, slave camps, strawberry fields.
And corporate greed burns blood money
All in the name of peace.

I choose peace
Because I have walked
Down my street and seen
The unspoken fear of my neighbors
Too beaten and brutalized by street justice
And institutionalized oppression to live
Beyond existence, intentionally victimized
To keep the peace.

I choose peace
Because I see your Light
And know that beauty is not reflected in your
Eyes but lives deep within
I choose peace
Because the world cannot be at peace
Until I am at peace with the world
Therefore, I choose peace.