what are you afraid of
i am not afraid that robots
will displace humans but that
humans will imitate machines
kill without remorse or guilt
because killing is remote now
The term enemy does not
distinguish between military
and civilians between adults
and children because children
will grow up to become enemies
so genocide is justified as futuristic
Killing the enemy young so that
there is no enemy in the future
why can't there be peace so that
there is no enemy only neighbours
of the same wretched species facing
the same life that disappears like a
dream so unfairly after all that turmoil
uncertainty despair and occasional
flashes of fugacious joy clouded by fear
why can't peace be imagined, goodness
be imagined, evil forgiven and banished
from the heart that craves a little peace
and more peace and still more peace
so that children can laugh and play
without fear and eat when they are hungry
and sleep without waking to air-raid sirens