Our very talented, local knitter has been busy again and made a wonderful topper for today.

We wear white poppies in remembrance of all victims of war – the wars happening now, the civilians and the refugees  and as a commitment to peace. The white poppy is also worn to challenge militarism and any attempt to glorify or celebrate war.  I was pleased to see a white poppy included in the topper.

I found a poem about Peace for today and first found this one attributed to Mary Oliver. Here it says that was wrong, it is a poem by Judyth Hill. Thank you for this.

Wage Peace

By Judyth Hill*

Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings
and flocks of redwing blackbirds.

Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children
and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen
and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.

Wage peace with your listening:
hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools:
flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.

Make soup.
Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.

Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Celebrate today.

* Sometimes mistakenly attributed to Mary Oliver