Poem: Sunday in Mín ’a Leá / Sunday in Gaza

A gentle Sunday
in Mín ’a Leá
I’m unperturbed
in the garden
my counterpart in Gaza
running out of breath
pleading
to escape
the next missile attack
the fallout of explosions.

A soft slow sleepy Sunday
in Mín ’a Leá
night will fall into silence
a moon will rise
relaxing in the air
but in Gaza
the sky will ignite
in burning flames
houses will crumble
bones shatter.

On this quiet Sunday
in Mín ’a Leá
how easy it is
to mourn Gaza
as I sit in the garden
comfortably
enjoying the scent
of newly cut grass
not a care in the world
but the making of a poem.
Not a care in the world
but the making of a poem?

Cathal Ó Searcaigh

Believe it or not

As far as I'm concerned,
humans have not yet come up with a belief that's worth believing.

            George Carlin, Napalm & Silly Putty

 

 

 

 

 

Protection

What keeps us from being monsters
        are the great artists who teach us to love.

                Ken Kesey, interview in The Paris Review

 

 

 

 

Problem/Solution, etc.

Society had a crime problem.
    It hired cops to attack crime.
        Now society has a cop problem.

                Tom Robbins, Still Life with Woodpecker

 

 

 

 

Leading questions

If they can get you asking the wrong questions,
        they don't have to worry about the answers.

                    Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow

 

 

 

 

 

Who cares?

Not a single one of the cells that compose you knows who you are, or cares.

    Daniel Dennett, Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness 

 

 

 

 

Touched by grace

One who has been touched by grace will no longer look on those who stray as "those evil people" or "those poor people who need our help." Nor must we search for signs of "loveworthiness." Grace teaches us that God loves because of who God is, not because of who we are.

            Philip Yancey, What's So Amazing about Grace?