The whole world is listening.
You grab a mic and the whole world is listening.
What do you say?
They wait, hanging on each word.
Every ear ready
For you
Speak.
You must
Build up courage
Gather yourself
And
speak
You wont get this chance again
Not unless you seize them by scruff of the neck and make your point in such a way that no one
could deny
you
You, who right now have a message to give
A message that will help those who hear.
Well, the whole world is listening.
So speak. And be heard.
Part of my on-going attempt to be better at non-performance style poetry. Inspiration - https://flobots.bandcamp.com/track/american-dreams
25 April 2018
18 April 2018
In a war
Right now, we're in a war. But, we won't always be.
One day there won't be guns and conflict as far as we can see.
There won't be a man, gun in hand, waiting to kill us on sight.
One day there won't be a war. We will have ended this fight.
In this generation, we fight for a cause.
We fight without mercy, fight without pause.
We survive one tough day, two tough days. All days are the same!
War is normality. Head down. Take aim.
In only one generation, we can talk across nations.
Our children will be nervous, speak with hesitation
When asking us parents "What did you do in the war".
Still jingoistic, still traumatised, we steel up, say we gave 'em what for.
Two generations, amnesia starts to sink in.
As we who survived now mostly sink in our coffin.
They'll say "Dear old Grandpa, he can't have been bad.
I remember his laugh, and the good times we had."
Three generations, and relationships are made.
Where nations once sought death, love is displayed.
This eternal fight of ours doesn't have to be theirs.
We keep fighting so they can live a life without cares.
Four generations, and a daughter of a son of a daughter of a son.
Wants to know everything her great great grandpa has done.
She sets aside emotion, travels 100 years back in time.
Holding me accountable for every last murder and every last crime.
In this war, we fight. We'll do things, and we won't be proud.
One side will win. Their side of history will be loud.
You don't chose the future. You have to live when you happen to be.
Right now we're at war. But, God Willing, we won't always be.
Dedicated to a German friend, and her pursuit of the actions of her ancestors. A link to her reaction (and the rest of her blog, detailing her adventures) can be found here.
One day there won't be guns and conflict as far as we can see.
There won't be a man, gun in hand, waiting to kill us on sight.
One day there won't be a war. We will have ended this fight.
In this generation, we fight for a cause.
We fight without mercy, fight without pause.
We survive one tough day, two tough days. All days are the same!
War is normality. Head down. Take aim.
In only one generation, we can talk across nations.
Our children will be nervous, speak with hesitation
When asking us parents "What did you do in the war".
Still jingoistic, still traumatised, we steel up, say we gave 'em what for.
Two generations, amnesia starts to sink in.
As we who survived now mostly sink in our coffin.
They'll say "Dear old Grandpa, he can't have been bad.
I remember his laugh, and the good times we had."
Three generations, and relationships are made.
Where nations once sought death, love is displayed.
This eternal fight of ours doesn't have to be theirs.
We keep fighting so they can live a life without cares.
Four generations, and a daughter of a son of a daughter of a son.
Wants to know everything her great great grandpa has done.
She sets aside emotion, travels 100 years back in time.
Holding me accountable for every last murder and every last crime.
In this war, we fight. We'll do things, and we won't be proud.
One side will win. Their side of history will be loud.
You don't chose the future. You have to live when you happen to be.
Right now we're at war. But, God Willing, we won't always be.
Dedicated to a German friend, and her pursuit of the actions of her ancestors. A link to her reaction (and the rest of her blog, detailing her adventures) can be found here.
11 April 2018
Is life a race, or a dance?
Is life a race, or a dance?
Let me not need to pause.
Leave my rivals in dust.
If life is a race, let me finish first.
If life is a dance, then let me take time to perfect my steps.
Let me appreciate tap, while dancing for my break.
Find solice in slow tunes, and fire in the fast.
If life is a dance, then let me find my own rhythm.
In both race and dance, I am not alone.
People push me further.
In a race, I force myself to the front.
In a dance, we can alternate the lead.
Is life a race, or a dance?
I don’t know.
But I know which I’d prefer.
4 April 2018
Empathy
Empathy. It's the great human curse and the great human gift.
When you see your friends smile - it gives your heart a lift
It's the thing that fills us with utmost joy
When we know someone blessed with a new girl or boy
But it's not all cheer. There's something else inside.
Like most things in life - empathy has two sides
For every head there's a tail, courage for each fright
There's a hero for each villain and shadows are cast by light
So I'm sure you've felt sadness you wished you could stop
Often there's feelings we just want to block.
From the small to the large, it can overwhelm.
Life can be tough with empathy at the helm.
Empathy. It's the ability to feel what others are feeling.
So let us all be grateful that human empathy has a ceiling.
Imaging you had some people you made as your own.
You'd seen them flourish, see how they'd grown.
And then you'd seen them do wrong, seen them sin.
You've a welcome home, but can never let them in.
To be separated for eternity, to experience loss.
And the only way to avoid this has the greatest cost.
Jesus. He saw us suffering. He took our sin.
Took every pain on his back. Every wrongdoing. Everything.
And marched up to a death we struggle to imagine today.
And he did it out of love. He saw our toll, and decided he'd pay.
God lost a son. We lost a saviour. It is right to mourn and be sad.
But it is human to share this feeling, so let us remember what we had.
Last poem was written for a Maundy Thursday service - but they asked me not to mention the resurrection. So, I had to write another.
When you see your friends smile - it gives your heart a lift
It's the thing that fills us with utmost joy
When we know someone blessed with a new girl or boy
But it's not all cheer. There's something else inside.
Like most things in life - empathy has two sides
For every head there's a tail, courage for each fright
There's a hero for each villain and shadows are cast by light
So I'm sure you've felt sadness you wished you could stop
Often there's feelings we just want to block.
From the small to the large, it can overwhelm.
Life can be tough with empathy at the helm.
Empathy. It's the ability to feel what others are feeling.
So let us all be grateful that human empathy has a ceiling.
Imaging you had some people you made as your own.
You'd seen them flourish, see how they'd grown.
And then you'd seen them do wrong, seen them sin.
You've a welcome home, but can never let them in.
To be separated for eternity, to experience loss.
And the only way to avoid this has the greatest cost.
Jesus. He saw us suffering. He took our sin.
Took every pain on his back. Every wrongdoing. Everything.
And marched up to a death we struggle to imagine today.
And he did it out of love. He saw our toll, and decided he'd pay.
God lost a son. We lost a saviour. It is right to mourn and be sad.
But it is human to share this feeling, so let us remember what we had.
Last poem was written for a Maundy Thursday service - but they asked me not to mention the resurrection. So, I had to write another.
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