Three Doves, by Bob Starrett
by David Betteridge
A poem taken from the author’s Sapling & Wood,
published by Culture Matters, 2024.
What, for the common good,
can poets do, in dark times
such as these,
when love and light fall sick,
and with them hope,
and there are fewer hearts
where they can find a home?
We can keep in time and touch
with those who dream of more,
and plan for better;
we can speak with them,
and learn from them;
they are our source,
and riverbed, and stream.
We can make a safe space
for our shared thoughts,
expressing them with care,
using words that we hold dear,
keeping them warm:
thoughts and words that otherwise
might change their sense
or lose their charge.
From these we shall fashion
arguments and rally troops
that are inimical to the enemies
of justice and of peace,
for want of which the world starves.
International Peace Garden
