Again this year, Christians are going to celebrate the birth of the Messiah who came to establish the culture of peace but the forces of destruction have been also growing in power to spread their desert. I wrote this poem about those forces of destruction. AVTAARS OF SAVAGERY When the avtaars of savagery mow down defenceless innocents and tear down the towers of routine deep pain goes deeper inside. Spiders of sinister news crawl in and out of the cracks of the calm that mothers the rationality of discipline and the stress-causing stairs of the menacing fear go up and down with the sound of the tombstone in the grass. From the oak of harmony leaves fall in the maze of mistrust. The locusts of threat shadow the crops of shelters and the driving rains of discomfort lash the denuded twigs of hope. Stephen Gill (stephengill@cogeco.ca ) Site: www.stephengill.ca