If I could

but for one moment

keep at bay

the pain, the suffering, the sorrow

If I could

but for one moment

Still the tempest

Bring back the blush

of life

into the cold pale faces

lying on thousands of white beds

in thousands of hospitals

a memory of anguish

a monument to tears

for loved ones and doomed ones both

If I could

but for one moment

wipe away the tears,

Bring the sweet promise

of hope

to the man perched atop the bridge

at the brink of the pit

ready to give up

then, then, my dream would be fulfilled