Poems of Peace: Christian Emecheta, "A Parliament of Ravens"

A Parliament of Ravens

Let us negotiate with the ravens—

they who have witnessed every battlefield,

every treaty broken like a lame promise.

 

Article I:

No more feeding on the aftermath.

From now on, only breadcrumbs

scattered by children

who do not yet know

the weight of helmets.

 

Article II:

The sky belongs to everyone—

passenger planes and paper airplanes,

kites shaped like doves,

balloons released at birthday parties.

 

Article III:

We agree to disagree about borders.

The wind recognizes none.

Seeds drift where they will,

take root in foreign soil,

become native through the simple act

of growing.

 

Article IV:

Our mind will be our sepulcher.

Not marble, not bronze,

but the living remembrance

of what we almost lost,

what we chose to save.

 

The ravens nod their dark heads,

sign with wing and claw

across the wide parchment

of sky.

 

Peace: ratified

by unanimous consent

of all breathing things.