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

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

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

when they bombed four little girls

in a church in alabama

there wasn't peace

when they destroyed 

the world trade center

the world mourned 

and then the world turned

and retaliated

there wasn't peace

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

it was meant to be 

a peaceful act

when john lennon

shook mark david chapmans hand

but then there was a gun

and a death and

there wasn't peace

how can there be peace

in the midst of these acts 

when there have been deaths

and terrorists and wars of retaliation

and corruption?

where is the peace