TYWC  - WORLD POETRY DAY 2002
Contest Winners

Peace Isn't Human Nature

A girl peers out her window,
The Austrian wind whips the shallow trees,
And then she sees Hitler waving to her,
She smiles and blows him a kiss,
Cause he’s still a little boy,
But its still not a Peaceful World

She walks out the door and smiles,
“I’m gonna rule the world someday” he says,
He has a gentle tinkle in his eye,
She laughs pushing him,
Cause he’s still a little boy,
But its still not a Peaceful World

Growing Backwards

A glass slipper of illusion.
Stepping down a staircase,
To find I’m leaving my shoe in the wrong castle,
The wrong hands.
A carousel spinning round and round.
Feeling like a child while I spin, my arms flung out. 
Drowning in the dizziness of right …or…wrong. 
The tail of my dress dragging down the aisle 
as I run the wrong way.
Away.
The tiara of maturity slips out of my hair,
Replaced by youth,
Again a little girl.
With a crown of daisies instead of diamonds.
A lollipop shattering on the floor,
And the screams of wild protestation.
Another glass slipper,
Another illusion.
Another castle.
Again wrong.
Bare-foot now, I’ve shed my last burden.
Toes sinking in the sand.
Waves washing away the clarity.
Wings growing steadily on the back of a newly found child.
A child picking daisies out of her daydream.
I will pick more daisies.
I will paint rainbows.
I will smile.
I am a child.

Stone Cold

This is the story of a man
Who all his life had been alone, 
This is the story of a man
Whose heart was made of stone. 

His tongue had no speech and his thoughts were thin,
Every day his anger had grown;
For this is the story of a man
Whose heart was made of stone.

They said he’d died as a child,
Because no one had ever cared;
And the only reason for that 
Was because no one had ever dared.

Every day of his life he’d drowned in the sorrows
That were crawling beneath his skin,
For this is the man with the heart of stone
That was forever pounding within.

He’d become so used to sadness
And had always felt so deprived,
That at first he didn’t realise
When hope had finally arrived.

He sometimes says it was a miracle,
An angel sent from above;
For now he’s been given a special gift
The wonderful gift of love. 

This is the story of a man
Who all his life had been alone,
This is the story of a man 
Whose heart’s no longer stone.

Peace - A special announcement from Tony Blair

As a peace loving body, 
Leading a peace-loving nation, 
The British Government would like to announce 
Its new peacekeeping plans. 
The British Army (known now as the British Love Team) 
Will coordinate a heavily armed peacekeeping force preserving 
order by force
In all non-peaceful parts of the globe. 
This special team of highly trained elite love-men 
Will be armed with supersonic peaceful machine guns,
And backed up with heavy peaceful artillery, which (we are keen to 
stress)
Will only be used if the non-peaceful enemy refuse to submit to 
machine guns
And peaceful grenades.
These love-men will be transported in peaceful helicopter gunships 
(Supplied by the Israeli Love Team) 
Specially equipped for neutralising non-peaceful children armed 
with stones.
The SAS (smiley and sensitive) will also form a valuable part of 
this peacekeeping force, 
As they coordinate long-term operations against anti-peace nations.
The measures include the laying of concealed land-based pressure 
activated explosive devices,
And the installation of chemical and nuclear weapons of mass 
nation building.
These devices are the best of their kind, specially programmed to 
target only those we are against;
The people who are non-peaceful and hostile to peace, love and 
understanding. 
We as a government believe that people who do not believe in 
peaceful values should be blown up in the name of peace. 
These peacekeeping techniques are a tried and tested means of 
mediating in a peaceful confrontation,
And have brought great success in Israel, Kosovo and Afghanistan.
We conclude by proclaiming this message in a spirit of peaceful 
kinship: Peace dudes, but be careful where you step – there might 
be a concealed land based pressure activated explosive device.

Sightless Eyes

Speeding forward
Wind blinding your tear-blurred eyes.
Yells of Chaos fill your ears,
Clang of metal, buzz of arrows leaving the string.
Smell of death upon the breeze
Cries of anguish sound like gongs,
Screams of pain erupting from the earth.
Hearts racing like the horses you ride,
Into the heart of the sun
Into the blade of the sword.
Tongue trying to wet dry torn lips,
The raign of battle coming at all sides.
Compressing, smothering lives.
Men fall from their mounts,
Mounts fall, killing their riders.
Swords drawn, glittering in the darkening sky,
Blood lust shine in the enemies eyes,
Your own reflecting fear
Like an icey glass about to break.
The cold clutch of evil grabs at your heart,
Winning the battle raging in your soul.
Family, friends, all gone, forgotten,
Sadness replaces fear.
Life blowing away with the wind,
You fall, injured,
Only to stand and fight.
Fighting desperately for your life.
Sightless eyes stare up at you
Death surrounds hewn bodies,
Reaching vainly to embrace life,
Only finding the cold kiss of death.
Deceptiong and deisgrace covering all.
Children dead, still clutching dolls,
Thrown away like yesterday's trash.
There is a retreat
Pulling back to see the destruction.
Death litter the ground
All with an expressiong of surprised fear.
Aroma of death
Aura of forgotten life.
Stepping through the bodies,
A sight catching your eyes.
Flipping the body to stare,
Look deep into the forgotten eyes.
Horrow closing on the scream
Nothing to be done,
Gone...
Your own life taken by the breeze.

Peace is Tranquillity

Peace is the tranquility of the lake
In the early dawn,
In the birth of the day
The nocturnal creatures sleep
And the diurnal ones have not yet waken
So no one disturbs the lake
Which ripples softly 
Under the power of the wind
Which is as soft as the breath of a baby bird
The surrounding trees stand near-still
With leaves gently blowing 
If all the diurns and nocturns could see 
The lakes tranquility
And think of it all day or night
Would everyone still fight?

Wish Peace

Wish peace to every tiny thing,
Who? or what? or where.
The sky above is a reminder
For an angel to rise
And give her innocence.
Find her in your heart.

La Torre Diminuire [The Tower Falls]

The tower falls
Lost to a world
Who dared defy
it's expectations.
La Torre Diminuire.

Into the dust it fell...
Lost to a world
Who dared to think
That safety lay in numbers.
La Torre Diminuire.

Humanity mourned it...
Lost to a world
Who dared to live
The freedom that was life.
La Torre Diminuire.

We live that freedom still...
Lost to a world
Who dares to think
That we can live without.
La Torre Diminuire.

We who live in freedom truly are
Lost to a world
Who dares to believe we will fall.
La Torre Diminuire.
Salvo coraggio valonta no

( la torre diminuire means 'the tower falls', and salvo coraggio valonta no' means 'but courage can not'.  In thinking of world peace, I got to thinking that just as the twin towers, a symbol of peace in america, fell, so can our courage, if we let it and it takes courage to overcme differences.)

Dreams Still Fly

Renewed are we,
From the darkness once thick.
If the gates are closed,
Dreams still fly.
Yet it takes a falling mountain
To open our eyes.
Peace within out hearts
Will keep them open,
Through dispear,
Or tranquility,
Let us run through those dream swept fields,
Once more, before the tide pulls away,
Hold the sky, drop the blade,
Hold your dreams, release your hearts,
Push away the embers of hatred,
Keep your eyes open,
And close the doors of war.

Peace ( To Giovanni Ramon)

Last week
I believed that peace 
Was being with you
In you’re arms
Holding you’re body
do you still feel my hand
sliding over you’re hair?

Today I find that 
You’re idea of peace
Is something different,
Away from me
So far from my heart,
Who is lying separated
From herself
In a pool of rose colored
Tears
As the cage door creaks shut

Tomorrow I wish to believe
That peace is living without you
So far from you
So far from everyone
To have joy in facing
The coming by myself

The night’s silent chill
Slaps my bare arms, which
Tells me that peace
Does not
       Exist.

Out of Time

Sobre stars staring,
Alone melancholy stare,
Staring out of time.

I Saw You In My Dreams Last Night

I saw you in my dreams last night,
We were holding hands,
Captivated by one another’s smile.
We talked for hours,
And still had not talked enough.
Peered in to one another’s soul,
And felt connected.
I knew that God had brought us together.
We spent hours,
Reciting love poems,
Drinking punch out of,
Champagne glasses,
And knew that this was,
True love.

Silver Bliss

As the moon shines,
As the sun sleeps,
My soul is uplifted
Among the stars
To feel their embrace
Against the cool night
As my spirit flies,
Flies beyond that of sens,
Flies beneath rays from above,
Running towards silver bliss.
The feeling grasps my every sens
The feeling of eternal hope
As my dreaming becomes reality
My passions enveloped in golden dapple
And unknown cherishment.
As the moon shines...
As the sun sleeps..
I dream

Peace From Within

When we can all join hands,
And sing to the sky,
Raise our voices high, 
And dance until the sun glows bright,
We'll know we're free.

When black hand grasps white,
And we can look at each other,
Face to face, no weapons held,
No insults on our tongues,
When our tears mingle as one, 
And our smiles glow brighter than the moon,
We can laugh and sing forever more.

When we can shed our skins,
And open our hearts,
Look from the inside out,
Instead of the outside in,
The world will embrace,
And peace will be found.

My Life

my life started well.
Hugs and kisses from family galore.
Many friends, we did not mind to share.
we did not mind to share. 
we did not talk evil of each other,
or about each other.
But as i got older...
A great deppression started
My life went in a down ward spiral.
I felt like my family abandoned me!
Now my "friends" gossip behind my back
Death seems like my only open option.
No one seems to care about me or like me.
Not even my family! teachers oddly look at me.
My friends talk evil behind my back 
and have their own thoughts of me.
Evil lilfe i live. Evil,evil,evil!
I do not laugh i do not joke. i am serious!
My life as i know it is a living Hell.

Freedom

Freedom as a cry of an unstopible beating heart.
Freedom a single word that keeps the world form falling apart. 
Freedom is prid as and eagle is a bird yet means something more. 
Freedom is a wonderful feeling that just cannot be ignored.

Red, white, and blue freedom is a song that sings deep within you. 
As a little voise that started small then gradually grew. 
Stars, and stripes are other wise an empty meaning without this word. 
Freedom is an outspoken ringing that throughout all of us is heard.

Can you hide your feeling of pride when freedom is spoken of? 
After many men had gave there lifes so you can feel this love? 
Unforsaken and unforgoten they will always live on. 
Yet have all those lives been taken in vein once our freedom is gone?

Forever at Peace

Touch your cold and frozen grin,
Trace your perfect chiselled chin,
Whisper to you “I love you dear”,
Knowing too well that you can’t hear.
Together forever, that’s what you said,
How are we together, now you’re dead?
Climb in your casket, hold you tight,
Close the lid, out of sight,
Lay with you and wait to rust,
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Peace

Peace
Peace is light where it is dark. 
Peace is joy and happiness. 
Peace is a world filled with friendliness and quiet moments. 
Peace is the cease of war and hatred, 
	 the cease of suffering and unhappiness. 
Peace is kindness completely taken from the heart and peace is friendship. 
Peace is the wonderful, majestic, warm feeling you get in your heart 
	 when something special happens to you. 
Peace is when relief overcomes a mother whose child is almost died 
	 but his life was saved. 
But, there is probably another way of describing peace, 
	 harmony and love. 
Maybe that is the only way.
Peace is a hard thing to find,
but if you look hard enough 
	you will find it somewhere in your beloved, precious heart.

Peace

Peace is a magic force that we cannot see, feel or taste. 
It does wondrous and mystical things. 
It is a spreading hope within us. 
We just need to pull it out. 
It starts from the heart and can only start when you bring it out.
This loving creation can only come by mans 
free will. 
Peace is that single light in the darkness. 
It becomes brighter the more you trust it. 
For some it’s a burst of energy but for others it is
quiet and creeps slowly to the mind 
the thing that can controls it. 
God gave us free will and we must learn to use it correctly for peace.

Peace

The leaves as the wind rustles through them 
in a long forgotten, tranquil place.
Peace
The snow in all its first fallen beauty lying still
on the ground, shimmering silver 
in the moonlight.
Peace.
Yet do we know these things?
Do we truly know this feeling?
Peace
So many meanings, myriad definitions, so many descriptions…
But still, peace is an unknown word to mankind, none know.
Perhaps moments like a still winter night 
	and a quiet moments like a still winters night 
and a quiet moment are peace in our minds, 
but sooner or later they must end, 
	therefore, they cannot truly be peace, can they?
for true peace never ends. 
Peace
It’s true identity? 
A stranger, a meandering stranger, and a distraction. 
To the human race.
For we will never truly know it in our flesh, 
	never truly experience it, 
so why do we waste time wishing for it.
The thought of peace, eternal bliss
So close to our minds,
But so very far from our hearts

Peace

Starlight glistening on crystal waters.
Whispers of the cold, silent moon.
Silver waves lapping softly on cool sand.
Rhythmic breathing of a sleeping child.
Gentle hands, glowing sunsets.
Teardrops, raindrops.
Sweet kisses, loving murmurs.
Golden memories, soothing dreams.
Pink blossoms of the cherry tree.
Couples young and old, finishing life together.
The world is calm, for Jesus said,
Peace, be still.

Peace

Peace is a child’s
Laugh, of content.

Peace is the love 
You experience from someone.

Peace is a handshake, or 
a friendly gesture.

Peace is a peace sign,
On a colorful shirt, on 
A colorful person

Peace is triumph.
Or reaching a goal
That was thought of
by you.

Peace is miles away
for some people.

For some others, Peace 
May be closer than they think.

Peace

Peace is a thing we haven’t reached yet.
It is a ribbon that is torn beyond repair.
People are killed by other fellow beings 
and sadness comes over like a terrible blanket.
Tears fall from every face.
No peace comes no matter how many tears fall on the war-stricken soil.
Our only comfort is thinking that we will one day find peace, 
and our ribbon will slowly mend back together.

Peace to Me

Peace to me is to be free.
To hold a bond, and to be fond.
To share and care, to give a pear.
Never to fight, or to be without light.
To send, not spend.
To give, not take, to make a change.
To give to the poor, and also adore.
To respect, and effect.
To show you care, and not to swear.
Live and give.
All you need and you shall succeed.

Temptation

Swirling in the darkness
Deep into the realm of evil.
Cannot refuse as the temptation strikes,
Reaching blindly in the dark,
Yet your hands know exactly where to embrace.
Your hands slidedown the smooth back
Feeling for the seams and opening them.
Your hands trace every feature,
Running along the milky surface.
Embrace never slacking
The sweet smell of honey filling your mind.
Never let go,
Never leave.
Leaning forward to kiss
Tasting nothing but sweetness,
As your lips brush temptaiton.
Hands running along the naked surface,
Realizing it isn't enough
You need it all
You need the sweet kisses rolling down your throat,
Give into the temptation
All morals gone
Then it's over
All that is left is a crumpled wrapper,
And a face covered in chocolate.

Inferno

Tom had a gun, he used it to kill
he pulled in the trigger and swallowed the pill
he looked in the soul of the martyrs he shot
and vomitted blood on the grass-laden spot
he marched trough the village with Charlotte in hand
and stopped in his tracks, as they murdered the land
a boy lay in front of his awe-stricken eyes
witnessing horror and terrible lies
"Where is my mom?" he asked Tom with emotion
"Don't worry, son, she'll be placed near the ocean.
I didn't want this, I hope you do know, 
so please don't blame me because I'm not your foe.
Your foe's wearing armor, he comes in the night
Some call him Mars, god of the fight
I call him hate, ignorance, and fear."
And with that, young Tom finally shed a tear.