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Still thanks to love.

by John G.Hall 

Posted: 09 January 2005
Word Count: 151
Summary: for Sri Lanka & all those human nature conservationists.
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Still thanks to love.


the forest is filled
from root to canopy,

photosynthesis over
exposed to horror,

the salted human fruit left
hanging from telephone wires,

the children staring out to sea
hoping the tide will not come
to drink from them once more,

surely mother will heal up
the cracks in the deepness
surely anger will be calmed,

the small mind is burst
open to universal size,

the young heart is made
long lived at death's hand,

the tiny limbs twisted up
into tensile arms of hope,



-II-

a star shines
a continent shivers
a sea mist covers
a bell rings,

a breath begins
a breath ends
a breath begins
to circle the world,

a heart opens
a heart shuts
a heart opens
to the blood's knock,

a star explodes
a continent burns
a sea boils over
a bell is broken,

the species existent
still thanks to love.





John G.Hall(C)2005






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Comments by other Members



Nell at 09:35 on 12 January 2005  Report this post
Hi John,

Overwhelmed as we all are by those images in the media, it may be too early to read poems about the disaster, yet the quiet voice of these verses makes them extremely powerful. I paused at 'horror' in the first section, feeling, rightly or wrongly, that I'd prefer the poem without it. IMO the horror is already there and doesn't need stating. Some memorable lines, particularly in stanzas 3 and 4, and hope too with the lines beginning '...surely mother...'. The truth of the 6th stanza - I can remember nothing that has touched so many hearts and minds - is eloquently expressed. I had pause at the 'll' - do you need it? It makes one wonder if this is a second poem or a second verse, only the comma after 'hope' providing certainty. The poem becomes almost unbearably moving if one reads again and again, and although at first I wondered why you'd chosen the different pace for the second part, read aloud the short lines seem to become breaths continuing in spite of everything. I wondered at '...the bell is broke...' and wanted 'broken', but perhaps there's a reason for this that I missed. The last stanza - yes, if this has taught us anything at all it's that there is love in this hard world.

typo: ...to the bloods knock... (blood's)

Nell.
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John G.Hall at 23:31 on 13 January 2005  Report this post
The poem begins by thinking the thought that even the inside working of nature is disturbed by the human suffering washing over it.

The word 'horror' is part of a rolling sound mimicking the rolling seas,the turning off of the process of transforming light into life(photosynthesis).The dead bodies are the 'salted' fruits.

Then I see how even childen begin to come to terms with this world shattering event,in paintings & play & friendships & care. Against the odds they survived one of the most powerful events on our planet.Hence 'tensile arms of hope'.

The second part of the poem is a panting beat, a remorseless thoughtless movement, nature creating & destroying.

Yet amongst the destruction small acts of human love, the very acts that define our species, rescue us all from becoming truly dead.

And so I end on a slight, understated thought.Hoping it touches a place not touched much nowadays.Giving a small word a weight & responsibility it deserves.



John G.Hall

OK Nell.Cheers.
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