Saturday Stories
July 21, 2018
I created the poetry version of "Pax Vobiscum" last year. It was included in A Evening of Poetry 2018, an international literary event on March 24, 2018 at the Moberly Arts and Cultural Center in Vancouver, Canada. The poems were featured on the WIN-UNESCO Wall, in celebration of the UNESCO World Poetry Month. The event was initiated by Ashok Bhargava, president of Writers International Network (WIN) Canada.
It also appears on the third edition of "Muse for World Peace Anthology," a collection of poetry about peace from writers all around the world. The author and speaker Timileyin Gabriel Olajuwon, who was also featured on the WIN-UNESCO Wall, is the managing editor. This is a project of the Muse For Peace Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Nigeria that promotes world peace and solidarity. It was published by Global Fraternity of Poets of India, and it is now available on their website and on Amazon.
Yesterday it also got published at Destiny Poets, the literary site of the poet and workshop leader Louis Kasatkin, in partnership with Destiny Church of Yorkshire, England.
Pax Vobiscum
By Jonathan Aquino
I
As I write this, somebody somewhere in the world is laughing,
crying, hoping, suffering. At this moment, a woman is giving birth.
At this moment, surrounded by friends and family, somebody is dying.
At this moment, somebody is achieving his loftiest ambition,
and somewhere also, somebody is healing wounds of humiliation.
Somebody is staring at a photograph, a memento of youth.
Somebody is gazing at the sea, searching for the truth
II
There are moments, when, unbidden, I felt at one with the universe.
I am blessed, as I became witness, when a deeper layer manifests,
in intellect and spirit, in heart and soul, as I soar to a higher existence .
III
There is peace in moments of serendipity:
a kiss from a child, a perfect shell on a beach, a glorious sunrise.
Beautiful moments I have known, and have known well,
perhaps unlike my shadow, unlike a constant companion,
but like a bird on the window, to alight, to sing, to delight,
but only for a moment – then she soars once more in flight.
IV
Peace I have found, brief moments in time, they glimmer
like fireflies on a moonlit night. But to Man, grasping for hope,
a morsel, alas, is not enough. There is more to this world,
in our lives, than Mammon’s lot; there is to be found
the nature of angels – joy, serenity, peace and love.
V
Not the peace of the desert; there is solitude, but only wilderness,
not to commune with nature, but to fight for your soul for eternity.
Not the peace of the grave; hollowed ground, but filled with emptiness,
for our time on earth is but a spark, a glint, in the blinding light of infinity.
VI
To have peace, some say, is to call for war,
for only in eternal vigilance can peace, like freedom, be defended.
Yet for peace to grow, like a lovely flower, the soil needs not
the blood of a martyr; the altar of peace needs not
the lives of the brave, the righteous and the just.
The cries of widows and orphans shall pass,
as all things pass, but a peacemaker, he who lights our path, is forever.
VII
There is finally, divine peace, for, at the moment of our death,
a vision opens the eyes of the soul, an awakening beyond understanding,
and that, my friend, is real peace, and peace be with you.
Photo courtesy of MusePeace.wordpress.com
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