BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON

Who are they who defend God?

Did He ask them to?

If He is All Powerful, why does He need defending? I was told He would take care of us, not that we would need to look after Him.

If He is the Creator, why do they destroy?

Who heard Him cry out for revenge? Why didn’t the neighbours hear Him? Why don’t you and I? If He can speak to them directly and call them to war, why did He send us avatars and apostles and prophets and angels of peace?

Is He happier now that murders in His name have been committed? Was He happy when they slaughtered kids earlier? Or do they hear from a different God in a language the rest of us don’t understand?

If every deed done by man is done in His name, why does man do misdeeds?

What is this mind for, if the hand is to kill? Why did He give us reasoning and the power of intellect if He wanted them to be subsumed by base metal and sharp edges of a sword?

Who lies? Did He? Surely not. The holy books? I think not, but if they did why are they holy?

Or is it they who lie?

Questions. Questions. Questions aplenty.

Can the defenders of faith defend themselves from the questions I ask?

Crossover

It’s the shortest bridge ever.

Although you cannot see the other side.

What lies across,

Where it leads to

No one knows.

To pass over, it takes an instant.

But you have to live a lifetime to do so.

It connects two worlds.

All that’s past. And the future.

Pass over it, everyone must.

One day.

And alone.

You don’t know when.

But pass over it, oh yes, you must.

And there’s no coming back.

It brings forth anxiety in people.

Awe.

Wonder.

Even fearfulness.

And it leaves behind sorrow.

Tears.

Loneliness.

In those to whom you’ve bid adieu.

And when it’s my time

I hope the road beyond

Ascends upwards.

10,9,8,7… No Mas? No Way!

Get up, stand up, carry on the fight
Don’t you dare call it a night
Don’t you lose focus, don’t lose sight

You can’t quit, it ain’t over and out
There’s always but always another bout
So get up again and shed that doubt

There’s a crown to win, don’t lose hope
Put up your guard, rebound off the ropes

DIGITAL AGE

The arthritic old, simply don’t

The young are all
Universal and uniform
Ambidextrous texters
Tweeting twenty four seven

Us, those twixt & tween
Tetchy and testy

TUPPENCE – My Two Bits

1) Peace is when things are whole.
Otherwise, it always in pieces.

2) If connecting with the consciousness is absolute heaven,
connecting with the conscience can sometimes be arrant hell.

Lennon v2.0 (Re-imagining “Imagine”)

Shalom! Salaam! I come in peace, brother
I’m one of you, I’m not the other
Forget what’s happened, it’s all in the past
Let’s build something together, something to last
What’s done is done, let it be forgotten
We’ve all got to live under the same sun

Not Christian, not Hindu, neither Muslim, nor Jew
You’re just like me and I, like you
Not black not white, Sunni nor Shiite

AS THE MIND, THE WORDS

I’m sad
So my tears flow out of a nib

I’m elated
So I babble through an ecstatic delirium of words

I’m worried
So I scribble away my anxiety

I’m filled with ennui
So my boredom plays between stanzas I craft

I’m angry
So my ire seeks release through a pen

I’m scared