The hopes of a generation drowning in despair
I wish I could find some air
Somewhere to breathe
Somewhere where there’s not a landslide of bad news
Tumbling over me

I’m on my knees

My eyes are bleeding
With so many tears
I live in fear

The bad guys strike
And so the other side strikes harder
Where is the humility
To say
We can

Do it better?

This is our choice,

This is our chance,

My sisters, my brothers

Where is the practice of our prayers
That tells us we can turn anger into love
And let the guns
Turn into doves?
Where is the iron fist of love
In a velvet glove?
We can do this better,
Sisters and brothers

The sirens wail for war

While the perpetrators cheer
And the politicians cry out for more -
More revenge and more rebuttal -
Can’t we try to be more subtle
In these times of trouble,
In those times of pain,
Sisters and brothers?

I ask,
What is all this fighting all about,

What is it for?

Is it endless?
Can’t we open a different door?
Can’t we work it out
And try to whisper and not shout?
Can’t we do it better
Sisters and brothers?

An eye for an eye
Leaves only the blind -

Aren’t we beyond that time?
Let us instead walk in each other’s shoes

And determine the false from the true
Let us follow the oath of peace -
And discover what we seek.
A pause may not last forever
But it may bring relief,
It may release us from our anger and our tears,
If we dare.

Oh, I wish I could find some air
To solve these troubles
My sisters, my brothers

Don Defenderfer is a native of San Francisco who once went on a holiday to Alaska where he met an Australian who told him to visit Tasmania. So he did, and while here he met a woman. That was 40 years ago. He was state coordinator for Landcare for many years, a job that allowed him to be inspired by not only the beauty of the Tasmanian landscape but by the many people that are trying to repair and renew it. He has a Masters Degree in Social Ecology and a Bachelor of Environmental Studies with a minor in writing. He has published three volumes of poetry, and his work has appeared in newspapers and periodicals, including The New York Times and The Australian. Two volumes of collected essays and poems, "Tasmania: An island dream" Parts 1 and 2, can be bought through the Forty South Bookshop.