A crazy long time ago, some wise geezer reputedly said [and I paraphrase]: 'Let him who is without sin cast the first stone', a paradox that ought to have rendered all further violence impossible. But hey, whoever listens properly to wise geezers? Or to each other, apparently? Cue centuries of 'religious' warfare....
Shot Through With Contradictions
There is no time
in the immediate heat
of embattled streets
and embittered minds,
in the proximity of troops and guns,
of deaths and counter-deaths,
to count the cost
of what is lost
in fighting out our lies.
A wind of war howls,
transporting the ghosts of peace
through a strife-torn town
where hope, grown weary
and theory, grown impotent
in face of force
are shredded
like the flags of pride and holiness
once flown so proudly,
now so tersely mourned.
Steve Rowland
Many thanks for reading this.
5 comments:
Quite so. Wise geezers seem to be the first to snuff it when plonkers get the hump.
I like the shredded flag image. Poignant.
Welcome to the blog :-)
Excellent debut Steve.
Well said, Steve.
How I detest virtually all "organised religion" apart from Sally Army hostels and soup kitchens and their equivalent in other denominations.
As I have good friends whose background (and sometimes foreground) is Judaism as well as Iranians and Muslims of Indian background as well as Palestinians, it is a little like ealking on eggshells at the moment.
All we can do really is to remain humanitarians first and foremost, and use poetry and patience in resolving disputes.
Thanks for a thoughtful blog from "the new kid on the blog" (neat pun).
So Google, how does this 'Reactions' thing work? This is the first blog I ever posted back in August 2014 2014 and at one time as well as its 3 comments and 450+ page views it had over 100 clicks on each of the 'Interesting' and 'Poetic' counters. Four years later each one is down to single figures. What goes on? Just asking. Does interest and poetic quality simply drain away over time?
I tracked this down for a re-read Steve. I remembered it as the first blog you posted way back. Sectarian violence has flared in the streets of Belfast again this week years after we thought we'd turned a corner. Another thing to thank Brexit for :(
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