POETRY
2009 THIRD PLACE

This Thing Called 'Peace'
Kenna Rewcastle
16 years old, Tennessee

True peace, this world has never known.
Our history is marred by injustice,
Hatred,
Discrimination.
Country against country, race against race,
Brother versus brother.

To the victims, this image of peace is most clear.
It is the one thing they hope for above all else.
They envision everything their gruesome reality is not.

For we, their antagonists, will never know exactly what it is we are taking from them.
If we truly understood,
If we cared at all,
It would be impossible for this insanity to continue.

And yet these people, so commonly thrown beneath us in rank and importance,
These people are the ones we should be listening to.
We need them, we need their visions, we need what they need.

They can show us peace.
They, the people we torment, can show us how to love.

Peace, love, happiness--three candles in the overwhelming darkness that our world, once beautiful has become.
May this light burn away the violence
May it singe the hatred,
May it incinerate the injustice everywhere.
May the whole world be engulfed by these flames,
And for a change,
May we be surrounded by peace.