“One Plane Ride”
By Zachariah Farris
The heavens,
not some place way off, way far.
It rests in you,
placed right where you are.
Crafted are we not - joined in song?
The hymn - it speaks.
Come play,
come dance,
we don’t last long.
Join me in pain, in suffering and sorrow
weep – weep - weep with me now,
there may be no tomorrow.
Join me in hate, in fears, in selfish gains,
desire itself, works in mysterious ways.
Join me in honesty, in truth, and in love,
qualities seeming - to come from above.
Join me in respect, in joy, and in peace,
we have but one life,
one,
divine lease.
Dance – sing – laugh and cry,
for this fraction of heaven with certainly cease,
surely, it will die.
As lights go dim, do not mourn
We all, one day,
join the forevermore.
Die not before, the heavens closes its door,
Live with me! Live with me! Live with me now!
Before, before,
we join,
The forevermore.
* * * * * * * * * *
“Of Nations and Worlds”
By Samantha Siefert
Toppled towers, frozen fields
Fleeing armies and dropped shields
Missing magician, lost elixir
Terrified defenders, a broken fixer
Bravery used to be our banner
And daring was our dance
Fearless was our favor
And courage was our cry
Hidden truths, plain lies
Hurt homes and blood skies
No hope, broken heart
Kingdom and world torn apart
But then terrifying terrorists took
Our bravery away
Vile villains stole our victory
And we didn’t take it back
Foolish wisemen, broken glass
Faded flowers and wilted grass
Dead bodies, lost cause
No cities, and no laws
We didn’t defend our homes
So there’s really no reason to cry
We lost the fight
We didn’t try
No? No. NO!
We should have fought!
We should have tried!
We should have done our best
To give justice to those who died.
Learning lessons, wisdom grows
Through cracks sneaks a rose
Growing hope, revealing truth
Teaching history to our youth
This is what dreams are made of
Good things and light
Defence against an enemy
And teaching what is right
Knowing knowledge, building towns
Music always makes better sounds
Laughing, dancing, and singing
Trumpet blares and bell ringing
And now we stand here staring at our little world.
They think it’s unfixable; they think we’ve lost,
But we know better because we’ve seen it in the past.
Come now, there’s work to do. Let’s go prove them wrong.
Tallest towers, brave knights
Burning of a thousand lights
Raised shields, banners unfurled
Welcome to a new world.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
“I’ve always liked alliteration and rhyming in poems, so I knew that I wanted this poem to include that. I’ve also always liked hearing old stories about knight, castles, and kingdoms because war and peace occurs just as it did back in those days just in different ways. Thus, this poem was born from a mix of those ideas. We can always fight for what matters, even if it’s hard.”
