Toward Peace

Toward Peace  

Peace is not something to be found outside; it must be cultivated from within. Even in a divided world, peace is possible—not because the world changes, but because our hearts change.  —Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, leading the Walk for Peace

I drop my rocketing
thoughts of headlines,
imagine a quiet glen—
deer forage, flicking
their little white tails.
They lift their heads,
attentive—ample ears
swivel, tails gone still.
Fox, slinking along
the margin of the woods
no threat, they return
to graze.
That quiet, that peace,
breathing each one of us.

Mind pivots back to news
a soft Let’s set that down.
Cleansing breath
begins again—
hundreds of times a day.