Battle or Build?
A Poem by Tom Shaw
Are you here to wage a battle
or are you here to help me build?
Did you bring your sharpest weapons
or tools to forge and gold to gild?
Did you come to compete with me,
or did you come to collaborate?
For I do not want to fight against you,
instead unite as we head to our fate.See, there are bigger threats in life
than my character assassinating yours.
Food is poison, medicine is death,
neighbours are strangers and work is chores.
Nature is withered, living is robotic,
the news is lying and the lies are truth.
Right now, all’s the wrong way round.
So what use is giving me a missing tooth?I’m not here to wage a battle,
I am here to help you build.
I choose to put my axe to wood
and hoe to earth so fields are tilled.
I plant my seeds with ample space
and feed them water, not the blood
of all the foes I wished to slay
who could have been my closest bud.
Then I watch the flowers bloom –
flourish in to being their own.
I make the space I want to inhabit
and somewhere you can say you’ve known.So are you here to wage a battle,
or are you here to help me build?Battle or Build? - by Tom Shaw
“Battle or Build?” is one of the poems featured in my poetry book, “Born Anew and Other Poems”. You can find out more about the book below:
This is always a fascinating topic to engage with people with - and you’ll be able to see that from the comments. I really do believe that the more we try and “fight” our way through the agendas at play, then we can only feed the darkness. Let’s build better systems and just make them obsolete.
Music: Jangwa - A Rainbow In The Sewers
“Battle or Build?” is also available as a framed print. Check out the Shop page or use the button below to take a look.
Love it! There's too much trouble out there to to waste our energy pounding on each other. Let's build the world we want to live in!
You can't build until you battle and win otherwise those who wish to bring you down will continue to undermine you