PEACE

Peace
What is it ?
When men agree to disagree
To stop the fight
Burying the hatchet
And an Armalite

Peace
What is it ?
To walk the streets without constraint
But not without worry
To leave all our suspicions
To a judge and jury

Peace
What is it ?
When brothers decide to forgive
But not forget
When neighbours look but never speak
Across the fence

Peace
What is it ?
A set of rules and boundaries
That let us live
Or a changing of the heart


Which Jesus gives

THE REAL THING

An hour with my least favourite auntie
A meal in the worst restaurant
A holiday with those I avoid
Teaching a class of delinquents
Making a real bad investment
Finding myself in the red
Paying a dental repair bill
Losing my credit cards
Having a serious illness
Confined to a hospital bed
Losing a real close relation
Burying a very good friend
Ditched by the girl I had dreamed of
And discover her dating my mate
Winning a million pound jackpot
And waking up in a cold sweat
Dancing aboard the Titanic
Or trapped by a large forest fire
Caught in the world's biggest earthquake
Or slipping from off the Sears Tower
Life in Viet Nam in the Sixties
A soldier who fought at the Somme
An innocent victim in Ulster
A Jew in a German war camp
A shark fin emerging beside me
A snake at the foot of my sheets
A black widow under my pillow
A lion I'd rather not meet
Just think of your very worst problem
All these could be hell on earth
But no matter what happens , remember

The real thing's a million times worse