“Making Peace”
by Denise Levertov
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,
can’t be known except
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 reaffirmation 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 into the world,
each act of living
one of its words, each word
a vibration of light—facets
of the forming crystal.
DENISE LEVERTOV, “Making Peace” from Breathing the Water.
John 16.33
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” -Jesus
Before the coming of Jesus and in the shadow of violence, a peaceful and just world persisted only in the imagination of the prophets. But the Prince of Peace has given us a taste of this future. We believe it is not only possible, but promised. We claim that promise when we work for peace and seek justice in our world.
Matthew 5.9
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. -Jesus
