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#2518 -
Ó: Lynsey Kiely
[mailto:lynseykiely@gmail.com]
Seolta:
Chuig: Gabriel Rosenstock
Ábhar: Sunday Independent
Mr Rosenstock,
We are compiling a spread to commemorate the
will be published this Sunday (July 9th).
Our focus is on two relevant
poems: In Flanders Fields by John McCrae and
The Gift of Love by Tom
Kettle (printed below).
We are asking high profile members of the
Irish literary circle for
their personal opinions on the poems and
whether the poems have any
contemporary relevance.
We would very much appreciate your
contribution.
Kind regards
Lynsey Kiely 086 3109923
Andrea Byrne 0879702846
THE GIFT OF LOVE
by Tom Kettle (1880-9th September
1916)
In wiser days, my darling rosebud,
blown
To beauty proud as was your mother's prime
-
In that desired, delayed incredible
time
You'll ask why I abandoned you, my
own,
And the dear breast that was your baby's
throne
To dice with death, and, oh! They'll give
you rhyme
And reason; one will call the thing sublime,
And one decry it in a knowing tone.
So here, while the mad guns curse overhead,
And tired men sigh, with mud for couch and
floor,
Know that we fools, now with the foolish
dead,
Died not for Flag, nor King, nor
Emperor,
But for a dream, born in a herdsman's
shed,
And for the Secret Scripture of the poor.
IN FLANDERS FIELDS
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD
(1872-1918)
Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Dear Lynsey,
Poems that celebrate war are as obscene as
war itself. Allow me, kindly, to quote something meaningful on
the whole dirty business of war. It's from Volume II of Zen: The
Path of Paradox by Osho:
'A man of peace is not a pacifist, a man of
peace is simply a pool of silence. He pulsates a new kind of
energy into the world, he sings a new song. He lives in a totally
new way - his very way of life is that of grace, that of prayer,
that of compassion. Whomsoever he touches, he creates more
love-energy.
The man of peace is creative. He is not
against war, because to be against anything is to be at war. He
is not against war, he simply understands why war exists. And out
of that understanding he becomes peaceful. Only when there are
many people who are pools of peace, silence, understanding,
will war disappear.'
So, we need to create pools (and poems) of
silence, pools of peace – not pools of blood.
Warm wishes,
Gabriel
Gabriel Rosenstock is a poet, haikuist and
translator. Member of Aosdána. His latest bilingual book is
Rogha Dánta/ Selected Poems published by Cló Iar-Chonnachta.
Gabriel is a frequent contributor to The
Nondual Highlights.