Our protest is in the written word.
Carrying his sign, wiry body shivering,
Twelve-year-old Craig says,
“I want to make a statement,
No War With Iraq.”

There are other signs:
Drop Bread, not Bombs.
Peace is Patriotic.
We are a Globe, not an Empire.
Words vary, the message remains the same.

Horns honk, people wave - thumbs up.
"Thank you, bless you, we’re with you."
Women stop, offer coffee, hot chocolate.
One applauds while her driverless car
Obediently moves ahead

Fifteen minutes pass when, engine roaring,
Three young men, of fighting age,
shout “F…y…” One among us says,
“Probably the only words they know.”
Then, anger from a middleaged man challenging,
"Shame, don’t you people remember 911?"

I am thinking, how anyone mourning 911
could support the tragedy that war would bring?
“Forgive them for they know not what they do.”
The hour ends; People are smiling. We shall return.