A Fighting Chance

To the negotiation tables,
send soldiers from the front lines.
Those who have to choose 
between getting killed and killing
know that peace can't wait.
And hostilities have to end now
or it will be too late.

Send their aged parents.
They understand that the chances
of their children returning home
dwindles with each passing day.
That peace is not just one of the options
but a desperate necessity
which has to arrive now. And stay.

Send daughters & sisters of those
besieged in the marshes,
hungry & freezing at the borders,
struggling to stay awake and alive.
They know that when danger stalks -
peace can't wait
till the next round of talks

Send children awaiting their fathers 
in the backdrop of terror,
desperate for security and stability,
scouring the horizon in vain.
And wives who die each day
dreading husbands may never return again.

For those playing the game from afar -
it isn't vital that the talks advance.
Send those who are actually living the war
and give peace a fighting chance.

~ Shanta ~

More Poems By Shanta

Kavitanjali

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