On March 26, 2003, ten days after Rachel Corrie's tragic death, Patti Smith appeared in Austin Texas, and performed a highly memorable anti-war concert. Patti prefaced her poetic song "Wild Leaves" with the following comments, and subsequently wrote a new song "Peacable Kingdom" which was inspired by and is dedicated to Rachel Corrie.

PATTI SMITH: I want to dedicate this little song to Rachel Corrie. Rachel Corrie was a 23-year old girl from Tacoma [Olympia] Washington, who went over to the Gaza strip to protest the bulldozing of the homes of the citizens of Palestine. She was bulldozed to death… She was run over by a Israeli bulldozer in a tragic accident. No one read anything very much about her. There was no real sense of outrage. If an American Soldier dies, the sense of outrage, and the amount of patriotism and sorrow that instills into the American people is vast. Of course the death of anyone, to someone, is a terrible thing, a sad thing. And we mourn all the citizens and soldiers who die in war. But there was no sense of public outrage for Rachel Corrie. In truth, not many people gave a shit that a young 23-year old activist would be bulldozed to death in the line of her specific duty. So we will think about her. This is for Rachel…

he said he didn't see her

the guy in the bulldozer

they made eye contact

and the people were screaming at him

and the doctor whose house it was

was begging him not to level her

and his children were crying

and he said he didn't see her

but he could see the glow of her eyes

and he kept advancing

he rolled over her

and then he rolled back

and then rolled over her again

and then kept going

and bulldozed the doctor's house

all in the cause of

the righteous solution

to an unjust situation

there are no righteous wars

there are no righteous wars

there are no righteous wars

there are no righteous wars

there are no righteous wars

and if there were one righteous war

only God would know

I don't believe that the Lord

would put the one righteous war into the hand of George Bush

not my president, not my war

and Mr. Bush the God you are invoking is not my God.

PEACEABLE KINGDOM

By Patti Smith

Yesterday I saw you standing there

With your hand against the pane

Looking out the window

At the rain

And I wanted to tell you

That your tears were not in vain

But I guess we both knew

We’d never be the same

Never be the same

Why must we hide all these feelings inside?

Lions and lambs shall abide

Maybe one day we’ll be strong enough

To build it back again

Build the peaceable kingdom

Back again

Build it back again

Why must we hide all these feelings inside?

Lions and lambs shall abide

Maybe one day we’ll be strong enough

To build it back again

Build the peaceable kingdom

Back again

Maybe one day we’ll be strong enough

To build it back again

Build the peaceable kingdom

Build it back again

Build the peaceable kingdom

Build it back again

_______________________________

PATTI SMITH: We now have to speak out against war, for the rest of our lives… for the rest of our lives. It's never too late, for the rest of our lives, we have got to build a global anti-war movement for the rest of our lives, and nothing is too small, whatever you can do.