But if we were a peace-based society
we wouldn’t pause to honor
“fallen men and women in
the service of our country.”

We might mourn and remember
the monstrosity of war
and how it drew us into acts
we never could atone,
which only the most rigid of story lines
could grant some space to live in
(since we couldn’t live
with the bitter truth
that all war is vain)

If we were peace-based
we would honor
the courageous men and women
who stood up to the lie,
who wouldn’t buy
divisiveness of sides,
who refused to fall from love
into something partial,
who held the line of peace
till it was real.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 29, 2017