1963

when they bombed four little girls

in a church in alabama

there wasn't peace

1968

when martin luther king was shot

peace fell from the balcony of the hotel

he was standing on

and unraveled

like a ball of yarn

down the street

towards the past

there wasn’t peace

1980

it was meant to be 

a peaceful act

when john lennon

shook mark david chapmans hand

but then there was a gun

there wasn't peace

2001

the world trade center went down

the world mourned 

and then the world turned

and retaliated

and dishonored the dead 

by creating more violence

there wasn't peace

2008

peace was absent

in each of these years

but there is a year

and that year is now

and maybe now there will be peace