I sailed beyond
the farthest seas,
a warrior true,
to victories.

I now am here
a wizened sage.
I speak to you
of this new age.

Confusion reigns
upon the land,
fanatic force
with hateful hand.

World history
repeats once more,
the earth turns red
with brutal war,

because belief
becomes beguiled
with absolutes
unreconciled.

Man can be weak,
his mind enraged,
as Christians once
were bound and caged

and faced the beast
at center ring;
then slaughtered there
as Rome did sing.

Such ignorance
came as before,
when Rome chose Christ:
Crusades of war.

That memory
was long endured.
Revenge has come,
it was assured.

The North and South
became as two,
and fought the war
of Gray and Blue.

The Nazi scourge.
The Holocaust.
The death knell dirge,
Man's soul was lost.

Then Viet Nam
for theories feigned,
left bitterness
with nothing gained.

Such tragedy
is never rare,
it breeds in men
most everywhere.

Can man achieve
transcendence now,
and leave behind
war's sacred cow?

Can man be one
as brother's all,
in lasting peace
that hears one call?

I do believe
all things can come
when man accepts
all things as ONE.

Divisive thought
must be consumed -
the price now paid
by those entombed.

May God look down
with tender eye,
for only God
can unify.