Peace and War
by Michael Doyle

When it comes to moments like war,
It feels rare that anyone is truly winning.
There's always something that changes the score.
Before we know it, we're back to the beginning.

There's something about the total brutality.
It strips away any semblance of humanity.
These outbursts of cruelty circle around incomplete
With neither side fully willing to confess defeat.

One side or the other has a hand that it's hiding.
However much, surrender is what they're confiding.
As long as a people cling to the belief in victory,
The conflict recedes, then returns later in history.

It's something that runs deeper than vanity.
It has almost nothing to do with degrees of sanity.
Each side has allegiance running through its blood,
And each side is willing to continue crawling in the mud.

Each side has roots of continuous currency,
But the desire for peace is drawn in our history.
That is, until we want to fight for a lasting peace
And ties to the past can find its release.

The tolerance of Persia leads directly to Iran's hate.
Is there a thread of latency of hope in modern man?
Patience has never been politics' greatest virtue.
But understand this, there is so much for us to do.

We need to reach for peace through modernity.
We need to know that there's enough future left to see.
The people of Iran are not so lost to extremism.
To believe all are the enemy is nothing but pessimism.

There is so much for us that is at stake.
Our children depend on outliving a 50-year mistake.
A spring cleaning will remove the clerics from power.
With that dream accomplished, peace will have its hour.

(c)April 1, 2026   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved