Why War? A Plea for Peace

If there is life
on other planets,
if some creature
on night watch
somewhere out there
in the vast vault of heaven
should happen
to incline its ear
towards the Milky Way,
a sound will catch
in its receiver
as if in a throat,
a sound that will traverse
the universe for years.
Because the creature is intelligent,
it will pity what it hears
torn out of a tiny solar system—
the anguished howl,
the long wail,
the unrelenting lament
gone up again from planet Earth.
                  - STK

The Ledger, Cross River, New York
Published January 23, 1991