Its touted by everyone
As the head of lifes stream
But is it in effect realistic
Or just an inaccessible dream.

People have many different beliefs
All containing hope and good
Some with members that hate
Some that are simply misunderstood.

To reach the incomparable goal
To accomplish the ultimate dream
All beliefs must be tolerated
No matter how strange they seem.

There is only one creator
No matter his given name
And no matter how we worship
This unproved fact will never change.

If mankind can come to believe this
And to know the weight of its worth
Then, at last, the curtain will be lifted
And we will be blessed with peace on earth....

BARBARA OSWALD, lives near Montreal, in Canada. She is a long-time Purr contributor with her friend Bernice Lowe. Both writers were recently interviewed on a Canadian TV station. Barbara just won an editor's choice award from the National Library of Poetry for a poem that is coming out in their Best of 1997 anthology.