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In days, we hear the rhetoric of war, flowered in righteousness;
In wars, we taste the violence of man, flavoured in blood;
In darkness, we see the characters of man, shrouded in hatred;
In peace, we feel the heat of hatred, packaged in words.
Is there no end to this vicious circle?
Is there no mother to comfort the fatherless child?
Draw deep for your passion and zest;
Draw deep to the fountain of truth to test.
For man was once a dear child of hope;
For nature is always the mother who copes.
Dawn is not too far from the eyes that see;
Dawn will shine through all men and beasts.
In wars, we taste the violence of man, flavoured in blood;
In darkness, we see the characters of man, shrouded in hatred;
In peace, we feel the heat of hatred, packaged in words.
Is there no end to this vicious circle?
Is there no mother to comfort the fatherless child?
Draw deep for your passion and zest;
Draw deep to the fountain of truth to test.
For man was once a dear child of hope;
For nature is always the mother who copes.
Dawn is not too far from the eyes that see;
Dawn will shine through all men and beasts.
(攝影相片/Photo: 2007年攝於羅馬梵蒂岡博物館 / Vatican Museum, Rome 2007)
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The above is in response to Xiao Zhu's Sept 2, 2007 blog article:
°°°°°°
Waiting for the dawn
Waiting for the truth dawning upon men
But I'd be scared to see the light
for my eyes have been addicted to the darkness
The complexion of the war never turns good
Yet it does not damp my passion and zest....
....I thought
No, too weak am I
Your warmth did bring me new breath
It won't last for long
Couldn't I ask for more
No
Too weak am I
Waiting for the dawn
Waiting for the truth dawning upon men
Longing for the peace in mind
Longing for y.....
4 comments:
Haricot.....No matter how down am I, I never query my belief, my passion. I still have hope. Though I am weak and I would cry, I still survive, and much more than surviving, I still live. Sorry, would you lend me your shoulder?
Love your poem; there are a lot of thoughts and humanity wrapped in a very few words. U.S. news report the military death toll over four thousand; rarely would it mention over 600,000 Iraqi civilians perished. And there are endless debate of the actual number or the rationale of Iraqis are killing each other, or "they are the bad guys". The end result is still the same; victims live in the darkest despair after the lose of their loved ones.
Since that one fateful day of 9/11 in 2001, New Yorkers gathered at ground zero every year to mourn their loss. Every year, my heart went to them when I heard the relatives of the victims took turns to read the names of the departed. This year, they also showed thousands of photos: images of the burning inferno, the instant of desperate people jumped to their death, the sad eyes of little girl waiting for her daddy who never made it back home…all are too much to bear no matter how many times you see them.
Among the photos, there is one T-shirt saying “No mercy, go to war”, granted it is an impulsive human reaction to a tragedy of this scale. Yet another photo shows a sign of wisdom: “Don’t turn tragedy into war”. Unfortunately, President Bush either took the advice from the T-shirt or the false report of CIA intelligence, he led the country to Iraq war. After over four thousands U.S. soldiers died and roughly six hundred thousand Iraqi civilians perished, Bin Laden is nowhere to be found, and more than ever there are more breeding grounds for suicidal jihad fighters.
Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh, when will they ever learn? (Peter, Paul and Mary)
Xiao Zhu: I sense the strengths in you and that's good. Sure, I will lend you a shoulder, take two if you need to !!
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Keith: Thanks for your comments. It is not so much a particular war or whether it's the "good guy" or "bad guy". Indeed, a war can be rationalized or denounced, depending on the people(s) involved. Wars exist as a part of human history, across culture and independent of gender. I am no peacenik (a rather generalized term) to expect nirvana on earth any time soon but I do hope the families of those who died in war, be they civilians or soldiers, will find strengths out of their shattered lives, remember their loved ones, and go on living.
ps: I went to a live concert of Peter, Paul and Mary several years ago. I can't remember whether PP&M sang the Pete Seeger song, but Mary Travers' voice was still as gold as her hair.
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