Sunday 7 June 2020

Breathless



Credit



I’ve read somewhere – a prophet spent
forty days in the wilderness.
A pair of brothers were absent
for fourteen years more or less.


In strange, nested mythologies,
passages marked in sands and wars.
And in here-n-now territories
time buckles under tormentors.


I heard the empty vessels wreck
my world, too close their keels and teeth.
Saw too, a knee pressed on a neck
and shut my eyes, forgot to breathe.


The mills, I’ve heard, grind small but slow –
how many more aeons to go?






17 comments:

  1. HOW I wish that karma could be induced to work a little faster. (If truth be told I would like her to work a LOT more quickly.)

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  2. Hari OM
    I suspect we need a Titanic-sized 'shipwreck' before appropriate adjustments are made... and then it will all go around again... eternal lessons. YAM xx

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    1. The indications are we are hitting that iceberg right about NOW...

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  3. Makes you wonder where it's all heading. Could be a shipwreck indeed.

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    1. Democratic values everywhere are under threat, unfortunately. But on the other hand, the young people are inspirational in their courage and wisdom and humanity.

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  4. Time without end, it keeps repeating. Words spoken during the 1967 are just as true today as 53 years ago. Over and over. As for 2020, just as soon as we get used to one disaster, another one piles on top. Makes me fear, what next?

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    1. I wonder why? Why do we not learn from history? Why are we willfully blind? Why do we permit inequalities to exist when we know for certain they harm us all, diminish us all?

      2020 is turning out to be the grandfather of ghastly!

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  5. I knew you'd write such a perfect poem for these times. This time things feel different - I hope it's not aeons for change.

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    1. Change at your end has a chance this year. So pleased for you and my other friends and family who're there.
      My country has been wrecked. It really needs aeons to rebuild what we've lost in a few short years.

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  6. Sigh...dark times. Great poem.

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    1. Indeed dark. Lovely to see you here. Thanks.

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  7. For years I watched, cried, prayed, and hoped. Wondering when, when will a global awakening happen? When will the entire world hold their breath all at once and see once and for all - we are all one race. That color is only there to make the garden more beautiful. Difference is our gift. When, I cry. NOW, I pray!

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    1. 'Difference is our gift.' Couldn't agree more! Totally baffles me why some can't see that.

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  8. 'The mills, I’ve heard, grind small but slow –
    how many more'ons to go?' A universal question Nila. When, indeed? I'm wondering how many URBAN NIGHTMARES we'll read during the next WEP.

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    1. Too many urban nightmares right round the world. No doubt some of them are going to spill over to the posts...

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  9. Hi Nila - too much breathlessness around, too much thoughtlessness around too ... take care - Hilary

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