After they have killed our men and destroyed our homes they drop their guilt from the sky. The bags of flour and rice litter the village, bombs of a different sort. I have watched the proud and the honourable scrabble in the mud, finding aggression deep within to keep their remaining family alive. I am no different.
I think I used to smile, but the cracked mirror tells a different story. The muscles in my face have forgotten joy and the threads of our clothes are testament to 'war torn'. The girls have
forgotten 'clean' but remember 'hungry' every minute of their waking day.
Our God and their God do not condone this war but a uniform overrides human nature, I suppose. I override my own nature as I fight for food in the sorry parcels that came in place of Christmas.
I cannot grant the wish for the return of their father but I hope amongst the medicines there maybe something that will help.
I wonder, in 2008, if they have invented a bandage for grief?
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15 comments:
you have opened an old internal wound inflicted upon my imagination as a child and never left alone long enough to ever heal.
Powerful! I have used this same dustbowl picture in many of my own writings. You can't miss the affect of sadness....in the face or in the circumstanc.
Great post! One to ponder.
this somehow reminds me of Jim Morrison's lines, 'what have we done to the earth? what have we done to our fair sister'
humans beings have fucked it all on this planet, the people and the land.
well, there is always hope that the new year will be different.
N
It doesn't have to be like that...does it?
Apologies, G&G, but maybe it shouldn't heal whilst the world is in such a state, otherwise we forget to care.
I have also used this pic more than once, Roberta. Not very cheery is it?
I will post something innocuous tomorrow but it is good to chuck in something thoughtful very now and again otherwise you might think I am just a bit of fluff!!
Hope is what keeps us going, isn't it, Nothingman? I hope so.
No, it doesn't, Handmaiden. Fear starts the war that no God condones.
Superb.
Have a happy New Year, Minx and look forward to more of your thoughts.
The desire for permanence in humans and its nonexistence in nature makes grief an ever present emotion for all but the most uncivilized cultures still accepting and working with nature as it is. You might say their bandage to heal grief is their harmony with the way things occur in nature and ignorance of the "civilized" tragedy.
A poignant and timely post, Minx. We'd do well to remember all those others. All those affected by war and "uniforms". Your line "Fear starts the war that no God condones." is so very true. Our fear stems from denial of God for God would never "inspire" such actions. Anyone who fights a war in God's name cannot possibly have any true knowledge of the real nature of God. But until we truly remember God and that we are all part of God and pay heed to our separation from God then some of us will always wallow in the fear that starts war.
Then call me heathen, G&G, and I shall be proud!
Hmm, Vanilli, a can of worms here. The very concept of God being a separate entity to us is what causes all the trouble. We are God (and Goddess) and are therefore responsible for our own actions. A God is not there for blame and cannot sanction a war in his name - we do that all by ourselves.
Happy New Year from one heathen to another!xx
Very powerful, Minx. All the best for 2008 xx
I think we're saying the same thing, I just tried to say it a bit more subtly so as not to offend. There are some who get a bit upset if one says we are God/Goddess :-)
Hope you have a wonderful 2008, Minx. Thanks for the love, light and laughter.
All the best people are heathens, John G!
Thank you, Marie, and right back at you.
I was never one to shy away from shaking the tree, Vanilli, so why start now. Happy New Year, you Goddess you!
Heaven is for heathens with hearts.
Much love, sweet sister. xxx
One of the most iconic photos of all time, shot by Dorothea Lange, for the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression of the 1930s. With the credit crunch and the crazy way some are STILL spending going into the new year, there's very much a danger we could be seeing 2008 versions of this photo in some quarters.
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