Never again
That’s what they said,
Those Holocaust survivors
Who never wanted others to suffer as they did.

Never again
That’s what they said,
The parents who lost a child to violence,
To ensure no other parents grieve as they do.

Never Again,
That’s what they said,
As they towed away the car wreck,
And realized they had taken the corner too fast.

Never Again,
Is what they said in 1945,
When all who had lived under a dictator
Vowed they would never let an autocrat rise again.

Never Again
Is what they said after Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao Zedong.
“We will not allow it,
Cannot tolerate it,
Will have ways to stop it”.

Never Again,
We all said,
Will there be another World War
But then sat on our laurels,
Believing we had learnt the lessons

But had we …?