Peace

 Deep within the bowels of society,
Where the poor and forgotten live,
People cry.
Desperate to be heard.
Desperate for someone to save them.

Those in charge keep insisting,
"Follow the rules, and we'll all live in harmony.
The only way to have peace
Is if all of you do what you're told."

Young and innocent, it was easy to believe.
But as bosses grew richer and family grew poorer,
It became obvious that peace wasn't worth the price. 

They spoke out,
They yelled,
They cried,
"You who stand above us
Listen to what we have to say.
We are hungry,
Desperate,
Lost.
All we thought we would have has vanished before our eyes,
But you promised that
So long as we followed you
We'd be safe.
Why are we trapped?
Why won't you let us leave?
Are your money and mansions that important to you?
More important than those you were meant to support?"

Those in charge do not answer
For they cannot hear the people yelling,
Crying,
Desperate to be heard.
All they hear is dull thudding 
As people bang on the walls.
Not wanting to lose all that matters to them
They yell back,
"Stop it. Can't you see that if you break the walls
The whole world will collapse?"

Why won't our leaders listen?
How much louder must we yell?
Don't they know that if they would listen
War could be avoided?

In the end, 
The people have no choice but to confront the truth.
The leaders aren't evil,
Merely blind and stupid,
Unable to see anything
That's not in front of their faces. 

War doesn't happen when people hurt each other,
It happens when they no longer care.
When people become nothing more than numbers
In a spreadsheet,
A line on a graph. 
I've heard it said that if you want peace
You must give up who you are,
But until we see what we really want
How will we be able to stop fighting?