I don’t want hate 
Scrawled across the cover of tabloid news
Stacked in supermarkets on newsstand pews
Pictures of faces in scornful hate
Staring at shoppers who queue in wait

I don’t want to know 
Names of towns where they came from
Schools and places where they had gone
Interviews of neighbours they barely knew
Telling the world of a normalised view

I don’t want to hear
The warped ideologies and thoughts they hold
Their reasons for murder radically told
The lone gunman, the planned attack
Delivered in extracts of presumptuous fact

I don’t want a review
Of the places they stayed
A biography in headlines day by day
Experts of controversy that sound bites love
Never speak for the many who are silenced enough

I don’t want hate
I want hope

I want to see 
Tabloid front pages with a smiling face
Of those who give and receive with such grace
Gifts of friendships, strength of unity
The better side of a common society

I want to know
Of towns and places where diversity grows
Hear the stories where kindness flows
Where different isn’t scary but celebrated instead
I want to read interviews of the people we fed

I want to hear
The thoughts and ideas of what communities say
With pictures of a town on a special day
People together laughing, having fun
For no other reason except that’s what’s done

I want to know more
About people who give to help another
Who look at others as sisters and brothers
Show me the spread on kind acts of care
This is the image for social share

I don’t want hate 
I want hope 
Across newsstands and TVs
Via politicians and commentators 
I don’t want hate 
I want hope.