Strength and weakness

With all the suffering in the Ukraine, Israel/Palestine and elsewhere caused or exacerbated by ‘strong men’ such as Putin, Netanyahu and the Hamas leadership among others it’s good to remember those who work for peace, support the dispossessed, give money, volunteer for food banks, and do their bit for others in so many ways. They represent true strength and resilience which gives a glimmer of hope for the future - a counterbalance to the bleakness we can sometimes feel

Strength

Here is a truth long resisted 
a concept difficult to grasp
something we feel we’ve always known 
that the world has long insisted 
a received truth 
is simply wrong 
its time is past

the world does not belong 
to the powerful and strong 
hiding in constructed carapaces 
but to those who face their weaknesses 
and are prepared to take a stand
those who see the other and reach out in love
in friendship and compassion extend a hand

the hawk is frightened of the dove