“Amazing Peace: A Christmas PoemThunder rumbles in the mountain passesAnd lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.Flood waters await us in our avenues.Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalancheOver unprotected villages.The sky slips low and grey and threatening.We question ourselves.What have we done to so affront nature?We worry God.Are you there? Are you there really?Does the covenant you made with us still hold?Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hopeAnd singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,Come the way of friendship.It is the Glad Season.Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.Flood waters recede into memory.Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid usAs we make our way to higher ground.Hope is born again in the faces of childrenIt rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors.In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.We listen carefully as it gathers strength.We hear a sweetness.The word is Peace.It is loud now. It is louder.Louder than the explosion of bombs.We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.It is what we have hungered for.Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.Peace.Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,Implore you, to stay a while with us.So we may learn by your shimmering lightHow to look beyond complexion and see community.It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.On this platform of peace, we can create a languageTo translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus ChristInto the great religions of the world.We jubilate the precious advent of trust.We shout with glorious tongues at the coming of hope.All the earth's tribes loosen their voicesTo celebrate the promise of Peace.We, Angels and Mortal's, Believers and Non-Believers,Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselvesAnd we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.Peace, My Brother.Peace, My Sister.Peace, My Soul.”

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou - “Amazing Peace: A Christmas PoemThunder...” 1

Similar quotes

“You have made us to be free,But we crave the cheap comforts of our chains. You have made us to serve others,But we have eyes only for ourselves. You have made us to love,But we are inflamed with lust. You provide, that we may be generous,But we greedily hoard as if your well will run dry. You forgive time and again,But we hold fast to the sins of others. You offer light for our path,But we insist on making our own way. You are the God who saves.Lord, save us from ourselves. In your great mercy, restore and heal us, and grant us your peace.”

Ecclesia Catholica
Read more

“It’s a New Year and with it comes a fresh opportunity to shape our world. So this is my wish, a wish for me as much as it is a wish for you: in the world to come, let us be brave – let us walk into the dark without fear, and step into the unknown with smiles on our faces, even if we’re faking them. And whatever happens to us, whatever we make, whatever we learn, let us take joy in it. We can find joy in the world if it’s joy we’re looking for, we can take joy in the act of creation. So that is my wish for you, and for me. Bravery and joy.”

Neil Gaiman
Read more

“We can only help make our lives and our world more peaceful, when we ourselves feel peace. Peace already exists within each of us, if we only allow ourselves to feel its comfort. Peace of mind begins when we stop thinking about how far we have to go, or how hard the road has been, and just let ourselves feel peace. Peace of mind gives us the strength to keep trying and keep walking along the path that we know is right for our lives.”

Robert Allen
Read more

“The miracle of life is given by One greater than ourselves, but once given, each life is ours to nurture and preserve, to foster, not only for today's world but for a better one to come. There is no purpose more noble than for us to sustain and celebrate life in a turbulent world, and that is what we must do now. We have no higher duty, no greater cause as humans. Life and the preservation of freedom to live it in dignity is what we are on this Earth to do. Everything we work to achieve must seek that end so that some day our prime ministers, our premiers, our presidents, and our general secretaries will talk not of war and peace, but only of peace.”

Ronald Reagan
Read more

“We will not find security for ourselves if we are estranged from the other people of this world and alienated from them and their cultures. We will not find peace for ourselves and our children by continuing to ignore other people and by arrogantly insisting that the rest of the world must learn from us what we are willing to teach and must speak to us only in our tongue.”

Sol M. Linowitz
Read more