Peace is not the quiet after.
It is the work before,
the word chosen instead of the blow,
the hand that stays open
when everything in the body
has learned to close.

We are made of the same water,
borrowed from the same rivers.

We will give it back,
all of us, in the end.

Begin here, with what you have:
one earth, one life,
one other face before you.

Make of it something
that will not need to be forgiven.

 

10/10/26