Pages
▼
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Breast Stroke Hummingbird Style Human Possibilities
These little jewels of the garden are swimming in the ocean of air... this stroke ... reminds me of a breast stroke... one that I once enjoyed lapping... in warmer waters than these New England frigid liquids. May I introduce these two daring young hummers... one a long necked female... a bit bullied by her brother ... he so proud of his many striped bedecked throat markings... not that this tiny hummingbird cares... but can we measure a life by stripes or medals or wars... Today the anniversary of not the first... but the second ... which fries the mind that tries to comprehend why... the SECOND dropping from high ... metal wings fly... above a lovely city... where millions dwell and dream and prepare a daily task of life... a bomb like no other... a course decided by chance... why then ... go there... drop your ... mindful design to kill... a 'project' laid out in a land near a bridge ... great minds in a landscape vast and beautiful... dry desert rich in peoples and rituals ignored and stolen before... then so far away years unfold a pilot knows of 'Enola Gay'... knows of Hiroshima's "Little Boy"... only days before... of ghastly ash shadows... horror... children's screams of terror... before unknown destruction... a SECOND planning... a human hand releasing... WAIT... is there any doubt... IT IS OVER... do not commit this historical calamity TWICE... 'The Great Artiste' (SUCH A NAME FOR SUCH A MACHINE) flies its mission complete... the stroke of a finger... perhaps uneasy... bombs away ... high pitched above shimmering Nagasaki... how many hear below... this sound of madness falling... and know what it is capable of... oh such sadness fills me with this act... my country... on this day to remember, as on the sixth I was silent... May we as humankind continue to do breast strokes away from our madness into clearer waters of thinking, feeling and caring for justice the world over. Forgive us ... for we knew what we were doing. We must be active... diligent citizens! Put your policy makers on your 'auto dial' and call them often to insist on just policies ... for all life is precious... as these small humming wonders... and it is throughout the vast wide world... in nature and within human hearts.