Dag Hammarskjold was the second General Secretary of the U.N.

From ‘53 to 1961 when he died in a crashed plane.

He was Swedish aristocracy, in the Congo, once again,

To further details for the freedom of Congo from Belgium,

Famous for its decades of terror, slave camps and hate.

His history of successful efforts to negotiate

Peace and transition were well known by all U.N. members.

His work in the Middle East and Suez helped disencumber

Border and ownership disputes between Israel and Egypt:

It was first there that U.N. peacekeeping forces were used

To monitor sensitive border areas, preventing abuse.

In the Congo, his talents came forth first as “quiet diplomacy.”

He said, “Life only demands from you the strength that you possess.

Only one feat is possible:  not to run away.”

Lutuli’s intelligence, grace, strength and deep kinship

With others awoke a watching world, growing distressed

As South Africa’s leadership maintained their vice-like grip

On all Black expressions of free speech, assembly and press.

He wrote, “the past thirty years have seen the greatest number

Of laws restricting our rights . . . our only asset cattle.”

“I have joined my people in the new spirit that moves them . . .

That revolts in a determined and non-violent manner.”

In Oslo, he called it a “paradox” to win

Such a prestigious award, as he was “a citizen

Of a country where the brotherhood of man

Is an illegal doctrine,” militarily controlled and banned.

He lived the rest of his life subject to their bans.

He never lived the life of a free man.

Lutuli lived through ever-increasing repression

Of South African blacks, white control and segregation.

Blacks were forced to lose their land and citizenship rights,

And membership in black groups was banned: next they might

Support social or political rights for non-Whites…

He was a kind, college teacher, then speaker, and then ran

The African National Congress, where he stood solidly

For equality. He was jailed, surveilled and his travel banned.

In their liberation struggle, blacks tried protesting peacefully.

So the police massacred sixty-nine indiscriminately,

Jailing 18,000 (for non-crimes). It was time

For an end to apartheid in South Africa. He

Tore up his Pass card, the law controlling parts “Whites only,”

And he called for U.N. sanctions against their crimes.

Noel-Baker spent his life in Peace work and disarmament.

He worked tirelessly on many global initiatives for peace, drew

Nations together at conferences and the U.N. with encouragement

To stop arms-building and disarm – through agreements, rescue

International relationships on tenterhooks, make amends,

Begin to trust – and save the future of mankind.

Without disarmament, it would be impossible to prevent

War, his argument went, and disarming of all kinds

Should be “the supreme object of international policy.”

A Quaker, he served as medical staff in WWI,

Watched soldiers die from poison gas and gun,

Felt the arms industry itself responsible, Peace undone,

Saw nuclear arms rise, a war no one would win.

He railed on “the disarmed world we must have” someday.

Pire, from Belgium, escaped the Nazi’s cleansing

While his grandfather died and the family fled to France.

Returning, their small town in ruins, they worked the remains

To rebuild. He took vows as a monk, and grabbed the chance

To wed his pastor’s theology with his strong belief

In helping the displaced and their children, the refugees

Created by the war, aiding the Allies on the ground.

He wrote about camp conditions and soon founded

“Aid to Displaced Persons,” a group that constructed

Homes in villages for refugees to resettle, supported

By a network of sponsors who sent money and clothes, claiming

To resettle persons, who contributed by working, and renting 

The small homes in towns that would ground their new life.

He erected “a bridge of light and love high above . . . the strife.”

Pearson was awarded the Prize specifically for his skill

At achieving creative negotiated solutions to still

Ongoing dissension between neighboring states, testing

International peacekeeping forces in the Middle East, wresting

Wrangling Israel and Egypt, unwillingly, to the table

And through prolonged U.N. mediation. He was able,

Throughout his life of international public service,

To use power, cooperation and creativity for Peace’s purpose.

He was called a “cold warrior”- anti-communist, and helped to found

The U.N. – its rules, procedures and balances, its friend.

He lived through the German bombing of London – to become

A founding member of NATO: Canada, the U.S. and Europe uniting.

He stated we are now emerging into an age when one

Civilization must live peacefully next to another in mutual learning.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees

Received the Prize with the goal of shedding light

On the unending plight of post-war millions, foundering among pleas

For political asylum, refusing repatriation, their human right

Under the U.N.’s Declaration of Human Rights from ’48.

Many were fleeing Eastern European communism, overtaking,

While the young sought economic opportunity in order to break

The stranglehold of poverty and persecution. Making

A break for destinations with refugee camps, overloaded,

Millions were still transiting – poor, elderly, sick – all under-funded.

Member nations managed resettlement and efforts at integration

Through unified common actions, but needed U.N. fundraising.

Sympathy with others, despite the walls between nations,

Was required to build a lasting Peace, worth praising.

Marshall was the one who told Truman about the bomb,

A secret. He felt that the day would certainly come

When we’d ‘have to use it’ – probably against Japan,

Or the (second) World War’s ragings would never be done . . .

Making him the messenger of mindless massacre

In too few minds. What the world would afterward find,

Like a death ray with shock wave annihilation effects, and no succor,

Was a blast wave that killed nearly 200,000 (persons) over time.

Marshall felt the decision should be political, not military

And target military areas to avoid civilian deaths.

It was Truman who signed the order giving clarity,

Targeting two cities whose living were to lose – not just their next breath.

Marshall fought against totalitarian regimes, his clear intention,

Believing democracies, not communism, brought peaceful intervention.

General Marshall received the Prize in ’53 for both

His caring for the welfare of all soldiers -wherever stationed

Around the world, and for the ‘Marshall Plan,’ whose growth

Secured economic recovery for Europe’s many nations.

Reviving post-war Europe reduced hunger, desperation and communism’s

Encroaching influence, supporting democratic pluralism.

Marshall had a long history of military service in positions

Of authority and influence. It was he who was the architect of the Normandy

Invasion. His keen interest in soldiers, cultures and anthropology

Shone in his Philippines, China and France years’ volition.

Could war be outlawed? That wouldn’t itself prevent murder:

The “citizen soldier” of a “democratic” society must be the enforcer.

Rejecting communism was key. He felt the only justifiable

‘Goal’ for war was to make another one impossible.

Schweitzer helped prepare colonial Africa to survive

The World Wars he lived through. Although not political,

He was asked to further his philosophical writings on life

With remarks – by the U.N. and others, critical

And concerned about nuclear weapons and the ease

With which new modes of warfare had taken unquestioned world ‘place.’

He agreed: in his “Declaration of Conscience” in ‘57,

Calling for public opinion to avert the spread of all radiation,

Including “nuclear tests” – not tests from a humanitarian perspective,

And said the public must rally to guarantee Peace, their objective.

He said, “Dare to face the situation . . .  Man has become a superman,”

“With a fatal flaw,” a lack of ethics and superhuman reasoning.

We are becoming inhuman to resign ourselves to inhumanity while men

Die en masse. . . “Compassion” dictates an “embrace of every living thing.”