Death of a Quiet Man

All those violent ends

Documented in my living years:

Gandhi, Kennedy, Luther King

Indira and her son; Aung San,

Benazir and her father

All standing up to lead.

Now a quiet Karen, exiled

From his home in Burma.

Padoh Mahn Sha, a man of peace

Stood up to lead.

A solitary calling, his wife dead

His children far away.

Sharing food with him, and hope

That precious spark, and talk,

Makes this violent end

So different from all the others.

Shot to death alone

Sitting in the sun on his verandah.

Weep and remember Padoh Mahn Sha

Weep and remember Burma,

And then stand up to lead

Against the assassins

Against the  dictators,

For peace, for peace, for peace.

Feb 2008,  Juliet Rogers