Poem - WOMEN - Untapped Source of Peace

       WOMEN -  Untapped Source of Peace

   Untappped source of peace,
   The only real hope
   Is to draw upon the collective wisdom of women.
   Those with direct experience of the cost of war:
   The life of child, grandchild, sibling, spouse.
   The loss of limb or mind of someone near and dear,
   The loss of laughter, the pervasiveness of fear,
   The loss of hope for the future.

   Untapped souce of peace,
   Those who have known domestic violence
   Seen the effect of bullying on sons
   Seen daughters become silent
   Seen light go out in their eyes
   The loss of innocence,
   in an unsafe world.
   the message delivered
   that they don't matter.

   Untapped source of peace,
   Women with empathy
   who live in a world apart:
   are safe, loved, and fortunate.
   yet can imagine
   being helpless, beaten and raped
   Then forced to bear a child
   conceived in violence.
   Women who know in their hearts
   That what happens to any woman
   anywhere
   could happen to them.

   Untapped source of peace
   Women who see loved ones filled with vengeance and hate,
   Hyper-vigiliant, fear-ridden, or afraid to sleep
   Because of the nighmares.
   Husbands, brothers, sons and now daughers
   Home from wars
   Bearing little resemblance to who they could have been
   In a peaceful world.

   Untapped source of peace
   Women in circles,
   Women connecting,
   Women together
   Bringing the sacred feminine,
   Maternal instinct, sister archetype
   Mother power
   Into the world.

        --Jean Shinoda Bolen
        From Urgent Message From Mother: Gather the Women, Save the World