Peace
I had imagined Peace a woman
tall and cold, marble-refined
slender hands held in elegant lap
an expression of uncompromised calm
Or I had seen Peace an angel, with mighty wings
spread behind a halo of straw-coloured curls
thick white robe to long thin feet
brandishing a flaming sword
So when Peace skulked in, wolf-thin and twitching
his ill-fitting suit stiff with mud and blood and centuries of dust
I stepped back, surprised. Closed my eyes
refusing to see his outstretched hand
missing finger and badly-bitten black nails
First published: Lines in the Sand – New Writing on War and Peace, compiled and edited by Mary Hoffman and Rhiannon Lassiter, Frances Lincoln, UK, 2003 and The Disinformation Company, USA, 2003