In view of the recent tweets and threats by both Donald Trump and Kim Jung-un we seem to be reverting to  a similar situation that existed in the 60s. That of fear of a nuclear war. 

A couple of nights ago, I watched a programme about  what would happen in in a nuclear war. It was one of the most frightening things I've seen.


In the 1960s, people were afraid that a nuclear war was a very real possibility. After all, it had only been 15 years, in 1960, since the USA dropped a hydrogen bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was also the era of the 'cold war', and everyone was afraid of Russia, or rather the USSR as it was then, a vast empire ruled by Russia. It was in this climate I wrote the following poem.
It is the only poem that exists from that time. It is also the only poem of mine ever to have been published before as a poem and not as part of a novel. It was published in the student magazine of UMIST, in Manchester.

A Plea for Peace

Now we have created something
That threatens to destroy.
One error, one mistake
And what is left for us
But Death.

I see the ruins of a country
That once was powerful.
Now there is nothing but
Ruins, dust, decay
And Death.

I hear the cries of suffering people
Many people, old and young
They cry in agony to God,
Please give us peace
Through Death.

But

The only true peace we can have on Earth
Is through remembrance of our Saviour's birth.