Play and play on, fair lady,
Sing us songs of hope,
Sing us songs of peace.
Your fingers caress the strings,
Like the mother her baby.
Those same strings vibrate,
Resonating within this shell;
This shell of concrete,
This shell of flesh.
In the corner the children play,
Rolling about on colorful blankets.
A soft barrier between them,
And the cold, hard reality.
Even so, they laugh.
Even so, they smile.
For them, there is nothing,
Aside from this moment.
One with one another,
A slumber party,
A school trip,
Now is just like then.
As our fair lady plucks another note.
A blast punctuates the thought,
And in surprise she pauses.
When the rumbling is over,
The string still sings,
Carrying its tune onward,
Beyond the sound of violence.
“Keep playing.”