Featured Image Above: Created by Copilot and me.
This poem began as a poetic comment I shared with Beth, in response to her moving article about a group of monks who set out from the Huong Dao Temple in Fort Worth, Texas. Their 2,300-mile pilgrimage to Washington, D.C. will span roughly 120 days and carry them through ten states — a quiet, powerful gesture of peace.
I’m grateful to Beth for allowing me to reproduce the photos from her post here on my poetry site.
Beth >> walking into the new year with peace. | I didn’t have my glasses on….
“Walk For Peace”
Silently, like daylight moves across a sundial,
The monks walk for peace in a humble style.
Within myself, I wistfully smile,
And hope that all the rank and file
Will also freely walk every single mile.
And add to the world’s peaceful stockpile.
Lisa O’Neill, If I Was A Painter, Lyrics
[Verse 1]
If I was a painter with colours no end
I’d paint the whole thing simply again
Where everything runs into everything
Where every colour is born without sin
[Verse 2]
Red be a roaring river in my veins
Green be the beat of the heart in the trees
Blue be the pull of the moon on the tide
Let brown be the base of some true love’s eyes
[Bridge]
Give us a chance at an earthly lifе
Then pull it from under us when wе arrive
Sending us orderly – what choice had I?
Born under the only sky
[Pre-Chorus]
Vast, vast, vast
Silver, gold and brass
The moon′s milk, the sun’s silk
All move among the stars
[Chorus]
I found out when I listened
Love is received from love
Up in the steely night
Stars span the Galway shawl
I was scared of the underground in London
At the speed of my generation
Are the old people getting forgotten
In this fuss of the world we spin?
[Verse 1]
If I was a painter with colours no end
I’d paint the whole thing simply again
Where everything runs into everything
Where every colour is born without sin
Ivor Steven © January 2026
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 