The seed of God is in us. Given an intelligent farmer and a faithful field hand, it will thrive and grow up to God whose seed it is and, accordingly, its fruit will be God-nature. Pear seeds grow into pear trees. Nut seeds grow into nut trees. God-seeds into God. Go to the depths of the soul, the secret place of the Most High, to the roots, to the heights. For everything that God can do, is there.
Meister Eckhart, Christian mystic, Germany (1260-1328)
Catholic priest giving Absolution to a man murdered by the British Army on Bloody Sunday 1972
Donald Trump looks orange on TV.And Theresa May wants to link up with a political party in Northern Ireland who were once called Orange men.They are Unionists,Protestants, who are called after William of Orange who ruled Great Britain with his wife Mary, the daughter of James the 2nd. She was a Protestant.James was a Catholic and he had a son who would take the throne.William of Orange’s mother was the daughter of Charles 1st.
William invaded England and ruled with his wife.Some places like Ireland wanted James to be King.He was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne.
Many of the horrors that happened in Northern Ireland began when Orange men led huge parades through Catholic areas.One day Catholics demanded the right to vote like the blacks in the USA but this was about 1969.You could only vote if you owned a house…. Catholics were poor.
On Bloody Sunday English troops shot civilians holding a peaceful march
Wikipedia:
Bloody Sunday – sometimes called the Bogside Massacre[1] – was an incident on 30 January 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, when British soldiers shot 28 unarmed civilians during a peaceful protest march against internment. Fourteen people died: thirteen were killed outright, while the death of another man four months later was attributed to his injuries. Many of the victims were shot while fleeing from the soldiers and some were shot while trying to help the wounded. Other protesters were injured by rubber bullets or batons, and two were run down by army vehicles.[2][3] The march had been organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA). The soldiers involved were members of the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, also known as “1 Para”.[4]
Two investigations have been held by the British government. The Widgery Tribunal, held in the immediate aftermath of the incident, largely cleared the soldiers and British authorities of blame. It described the soldiers’ shooting as “bordering on the reckless”, but accepted their claims that they shot at gunmen and bomb-throwers. The report was widely criticised as a “whitewash“.[5][6][7]The Saville Inquiry, chaired by Lord Saville of Newdigate, was established in 1998 to reinvestigate the incident. Following a 12-year inquiry, Saville’s report was made public in 2010 and concluded that the killings were both “unjustified” and “unjustifiable”. It found that all of those shot were unarmed, that none were posing a serious threat, that no bombs were thrown, and that soldiers “knowingly put forward false accounts” to justify their firing.[8][9] On the publication of the report, British prime minister David Cameron made a formal apology on behalf of the United Kingdom.[10] Following this, police began a murder investigation into the killings.
Bloody Sunday was one of the most significant events of “the Troubles” because a large number of civilian citizens were killed, by forces of the state, in full view of the public and the press.[1] It was the highest number of people killed in a single shooting incident during the conflict.[11] Bloody Sunday increased Catholic and Irish nationalist hostility towards the British Army
One of my friends was there.She testified.She moved to England.
In the sudden heat of a June day
The bench beside the roses seemed set right.
We sat and talked about the flowers so gay,
and whether Love is visible to sight.
The flowers seemed more beautiful and rare
Than any flower I've dared my eyes rest on.
I welcomed them with bold yet merry stare.
Ah,all too soon bright summer will be gone.
The sun was at the apex of the sky.
We caught the moment like a netted fish.
And as we looked the broad white clouds blew by.
All we can do is wish and wish and wish.
Now back to marking essays,making tea.
I lived so well because you so loved me.
The Jewish Writings is a collection of Arendt’s articles and essays written between 1932 and 1966. For this reviewer, they come as a revelation. I had never understood, exactly, the mental road Arendt traveled to get to the pronouncements for which she has been both celebrated (the reality of men trumps the concept of Man), and damned (evil was ordinary; the Jews were to be held accountable). To read the book straight through is to see clearly the origin and steady development of the single critical insight that informed much of Arendt’s subsequent work: namely, that the world is what we ourselves make it. The need to breathe free is a given; the right to do so is not. Among human beings, the will to power is an embodied force that continually challenges the right of those not like ourselves to occupy space. Under no condition is the one-not-like-oneself free to ignore the challenge. What’s more, the challenge must be resisted in the terms in which it is flung down. As Arendt put it, “When one is attacked as a Jew one must respond not as a German or a Frenchman or a world citizen, but as a Jew.“
My cat went a roaming to find a new home.
Sing kitty,sing katty,sing Oh!
This cat was so clever he had his own comb.
Look up,now look down,stone the crows!
He went into the neighbours' and drank all their milk.
Sing,fridge raiding kitties.No,No!
Then he laid himself down on a piece of fine silk.
Sing,what the dickens,my lovely pillow!
He went to the butcher and ate all the steak.
Sing greedy,he's ruined my flow.
Then he went to the hairdresser for a shampoo.
Where else can a puttitat go?
He had no plastic,no money,no cheque!
Sing,cheater,sing creature,sing woe.
She sent for a Copper who paid the cat's bill.
And so my puss came out all aglow.
Now my cat was glossy and plump and refreshed.
Sing:fancy,it all goes to show.
So he came home and said this place is best.
And he picked up his cello and bow.
He scraped some Sibelius and also some Grieg.
Sing: Northern lights can always glow.
But,he looked so self satisfied,I felt annoyed....
One should not let one's narcissism show.
But he was so handsome,I was glad he came home.
Sing,grateful,sing katefull,sing Ho!
And I hope he will never again want to roam.
Sing glory.sing story;Sing So!
Momentous changes stunned the British lords
Deceived by numbers and the frequent polls
We deprived them of their powers and of their voice
They thought they had it fixed, we had no choice
The game has changed, the young demanded balls.
Momentous changes stunned the British lords
Now they scurry, looking for new words
Their script is finished, gone their hateful goals.
We deprived them of their powers and of their voice
Now a new play starts and they run scared
Our politics is not for them alone
Momentous changes stunned the British lords
The referendum made the racists heard
Since the Brexit vote, most people groan
We deprived our rulers of their powers, their voice
Now the truth is out, the cover’s blown
And Europe laughs to hear our rulers moan
Momentous changes stun the British hordes
As we barbecue our burgers with hot words
Я пришла к поэту в гости.
Ровно полдень. Воскресенье.
Тихо в комнате просторной,
А за окнами мороз.
И малиновое солнце
Над лохматым сизым дымом…
Как хозяин молчаливый
Ясно смотрит на меня!
У него глаза такие,
Что запомнить каждый должен;
Мне же лучше, осторожней,
В них и вовсе не глядеть.
Но запомнится беседа,
Дымный полдень, воскресенье
В доме сером и высоком
У морских ворот Невы.
Январь 1914
The Guest
The blizzard beats with snow
On my windows, as before.
I have not become new,
Yet a visitor is at my door.
I asked, “What do you want?”
“To be in hell with you.”
I laughed, “Oh, you will spell
For both of us misfortune.”
But, lifting his lean hand,
He lightly touched the flowers.
“Tell me, how are you kissed?
How do you kiss the others?”
His dull and watchful eyes
Stayed anchored on my ring.
A bitter glow lit his face,
Unmoving, lucid, still.
Oh, this I know. His joy
Is knowing, with passion,
There’s nothing that he needs,
That I’ll deny him nothing.