Where Is Peace?

by Ruth May Fox

Peace, did you say? There is no peace;
The white-winged dove has fled
Beyond the pale of mortal ken;
Confusion reigns instead.

Confusion in the hearts of men,
On land and on the sea,
Above the clouds in God’s free air
There’s no tranquility.

Dread mechanisms, fiendish, dire,
Devised by our own kind,
Pour down destruction from the skies,
To kill, to maim, and blind

The flower of the human race,
The valiant and the strong,
Who might have found a way to peace
And cut the tyrant’s thong

With which he goads men to the death,
And sets the world aflame
With fears and anguish of the soul,
To win a conqueror’s name.

When will God’s children learn to live
The Christian way of life
And turn their thoughts to righteousness
And do away with strife?

Then will the dove of peace return
With blessings in her wings,
And fly abroad from land to land
While earth rejoicing sings:

Oh, blessed day! All wars have ceased.
The tyrant’s sword is sheathed;
No man will answer to his call;
The life that god bequeathed

Is His alone to give or take;
No autocrat shall dare
To set the precious life stream free
And war on man declare!

(1940)