Listen close, God.
When we get together and sing
“Down By the Riverside,” we mean it.
But outside this sanctuary,
the urge to study war jumps up again.
We all want peace, but we can’t seem
to get what we want without war.
It’s not so much al-Qaeda
[or, insert name of current national enemy]
that bothers us. It’s our neighbors, co-workers,
family members, or that friggin’ Lexus
that just cut us off in traffic.
So burn this chorus in our memory.
Keep humming it in our ears.
I ain’t gonna study war no more. . . .
I really don’t wanna / gonna study war no more. . . .
©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org.