Hostilities suspended #poem #Earthweal

Hostilities suspended 
for a few hours:
hostility of
self-against-self;
of inner darkness versus inner light;
of the Devil whispering in my ear
‘What if?’

What if today, I just embrace the moment? 
What if just for today, I hold my children extra tight?
What if I kiss their honey-hair and focus on the love of living
embracing every single star out shining in the blackest night?

Take hands and dance across the barbed-wire fences; 
take hands and cross the trenches in a hallowed, moonlit dance;
take heart and know that we are altogether 
all together now
in No-man’s land:
defiantly at peace.

© Experimentsinfiction 2020, All Rights Reserved

About this poem

Written for Earthweal’s weekly challenge: A Hallowed Moondance. It’s a strange Halloween this year, what with Covid-19, the impending hijacking of US democracy and the climate crisis. Sometimes, I’d just like to stop worrying for a little while and have some fun.

I thought of the celebrated Christmas Day football match between the lines in the First World War, and then I thought, let’s do that today for Halloween, and dance in the moonlight together. I hope that you can join me! We are only divided by the lies we tell ourselves.

Stay tuned for the results of the EIF Poetry Challenge: Halloween Special, to be announced later today!