Family of Man

This world is red with war. 

It has been said 
that half this world is hungry
and should be fed.
Instead,
we trivialize causes 
and spread more death,
especially
among the hungry.

 I look to find regret,  
find only debt 
that climbs to trillions for war.
What are we for? 
And what can we say we are,
if our only obsession is war
and the stage is set 
for war 
and for only more war?

 We can say war's a final solution.
Still we say, Not yet.
For "not yet" there's no basis in reason.
Not yet.  Nyet.
Surely there is goodness in mercy
(which is not a claim
for an afterlife in God’s presence.)
There is no doubt that evil goes often unpaid,
that men are laid
in graves far too often and early;

 that women blessed 
with much of the beauty of this earth
must stand undressed 
at the bar of redress and requital;
that children, stressed
beyond anything right in this world, 
have the right to claim
far more 
than they’ll ever access.

 Yet there remain 
unexpected outflowings of kindness,
cool waters drawn 
from wells in a landscape of waste, 
where the only aid 
may come from the hand of a stranger 
who owns no land 
and gives little thought to the sand;
but whose life depends 
on his camel, his family and clan,
and the hand of God.