The Origin of Peace
Peace comes to us
not from the ravages
of war, but from
a conquering
tongue
the Normans’ French
the Normans’ French
pes usurping the English
sibb, kindred to our
siblings.
Five brothers
once upon a time shared
a blanket fit for them
all, and for the winter
ahead. Yet needless
or maybe heedless tension
crept in, this one’s foot
sticking
out, that one’s toes poking
daftly into the cold, close-
knit kin in the
end
unentwining. No
peace
without
appeasement, no
pax without a
pact, no story
without conflict
unless
we heed a poem from
that
once-conquered
country, let
its copiousness cover
us
like a blanket:
“Stay...
till the
Tempest cease;
And the
loud winds
are lulled into a peace.”
are lulled into a peace.”
[Quote from John Dryden, “Dido to Aeneas.”]