• In the Dust of a Long Peace
    Sunset’s beauty, kindler’s rain
    First to heart, last to pain
    Fast the fire’s burning low
    Feed the flame to slow the flow
    Long forgotten, these dark desires
    Sparking hate and funeral pyres
    Test the limits of devastation
    Nightmares come into fruition
    War has called on an age’s peace
    Brotherhood and kinship cease
    When sense returns, at long last
    Pick up the pieces of the past
    Learn what history has to share
    From both lessons, firm and fair
    Step away from greed and pride
    Cruelty, anger, not in stride
    Clear away the rubble
    Find the reason in the muddle
    Clear the mist, and what remains
    All there is to take the reins
    Dawn is breaking, on the rust
    Granted silence in the dust
    In peace comes complacency
    Accept the first most graciously
    Don’t allow the last to grow
    Root in deep and fester slow
    When arrogance takes the heart
    The mind no longer does its part
    And it comes too late to find
    What’s come before cares to remind
    The consequences of a long peace stand
    On dust and rust and barren sand.