The Dunes, written by Shane MacGowan, he really was an extraordinary poet.
I walked today on the cold grey shore where I watched when I was much younger while they built the dunes upon the sand for the dead from the Great Hunger for the dead from the Great Hunger. Although I was a doctor's son I gazed in fear and wonder as they perished from the raging plague that came in from the Great Hunger that came in from the Great Hunger.
When I watched at the age of four in Eighteen Forty Seven the mounds they built upon the shore. They seemed to point to heaven they seemed to point to heaven.
But the wind and the rain they have worked away. Now the dunes are uneven and the children kick the sand around and the bones they are revealed then and the bones they are revealed then.
My brothers and sisters died. My mother only four and twenty and I alone survived to see the potatoes grow in plenty the potatoes grow in plenty. They stole our grain as we died in pain to put upon their tables. The dying covered the dead with sand and danced while they were able and danced while they were able.
While the fiddler played we drank poitin and ate the last of the berries. Then knelt and said the rosary round the mounds of dead we'd buried round the mounds of dead we'd buried. I saw dark shadows rise up from the sand and dance all around the dunes and they danced the rattling dance of the dead to a set of mournful tunes to a set of mournful tunes. A crack of lightening split the sky. The rain on the dunes it poured. I left them lying where I shot them down the bailiff and the landlord. Then I went for a drink in Westport.
I walked today on the cold grey shore where I watched when I was much younger while they built the dunes upon the sand for the dead from the Great Hunger for the dead from the Great Hunger
President Michael D Higgins has led tributes to Shane MacGowan, saying his songs seemed to capture “the measure of our dreams”. In a statement, Mr Higgins said MacGowan would be remembered “as one of music’s greatest lyricists”.
“His words have connected Irish people all over the globe to their culture and history, encompassing so many human emotions in the most poetic of ways,” he said.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said MacGowan was an “amazing” musician and artist. “His songs beautifully captured the Irish experience, especially the experience of being Irish abroad,” he said.
Speaking in the Dáil, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said MacGowan was “an iconic musician who blended many different musical disciplines and genres”.
The Egyptians are not too fond of Hamas, nor are the Jordanians, both countries would love to see the back of them. But they're certainly not going to invade Gaza even if there was any hope of kicking them out of there. I suspect the Israeli army will have it hands full trying to do that. In fact they've probably succeded in enlarging Hamas somewhere down the line rather than eliminating them.
Why should the Palestinian people be herded out of their country into exile?
As for the last bit of your post, along with the claims of beheading babies, it's simply not true. And even if it were, it still doesn't justify the killing of 16000 civilians, the vast majority of whom did not vote for Hamas.
Intentionally killing civilians was not a war crime until the the Geneva Convention was amended in 1949.
"Germany signed the Convention of 1929, however, that didn't prevent them from carrying out horrific acts on and off the battlefield and within their military prison camps and civilian concentration camps during World War II. As a result, the Geneva Conventions were expanded in 1949 to protect non-combatant civilians."
Despite all the Palestinian deaths, Rishi Sunak still cosies up to the Israeli Zionists backing their refusal for a full ceasefire. Perhaps there's a degree of self interest (or maybe a conflict of interests) given that his father in law's company, Infosys has just (30th October)been awarded a 1.5 billion dollar gas exploration contract from BP.
Dylan acknowledges that in the song, I only posted a fraction of the lyrics.
("Some commentators have interpreted the song as Dylan asserting that the assassination of John F. Kennedy was the result of a conspiracy of individuals and not Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone. Other critics, and even some of Dylan's fellow artists, however, have noted that, in spite of the specificity of many of the lyrics (e.g., "They blew off his head while he was still in the car"), "Murder Most Foul" ultimately seems to be less about the assassination of John F. Kennedy than the cathartic power of art in times of collective trauma, pandemic lockdown was happening at the time.")
At just under 17 minutes , it's the longest song to reach number one in the US Billboard top 100. Released in 2022 to great critical acclaim the song attemps to showcase America's decline in the years following the Kennedy assasination.
The problem with idolatry is it leaves little room to explore spiritual vitality. Rather than allow the mind space to grow and evolve on a spiritual level, it closes off avenues of discovery towards true divinity. I like this quote from James Hollis's book, Mythologems: Incarnations of the Invisible World and I make no apology for posting it once more.....
"When we take the gods as facts, rather than metaphors, then we get lost in debating the merits of the facts rather than apprehending their meaning. The fundamentalist ties his or her beliefs to the facts and narrows the spiritual vitality by fighting rear-guard actions against disputation. On the other hand, the atheist disputes the evidence, gets confused by the institutional forms to which he or she has been exposed, and misses the possible deepening which occurs whenever one confronts the meaning of divinity.
When institutions prevail over private experience, the oppression will manifest as depression and reification, precursors to the horrors of pogroms and crusades. This is the meaning behind the critiques of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche in the nineteenth century and the so-called “death of God” theologians in the twentieth. Each had observed that the imago Dei ossified and ceased to move its communicants to awe. In time, the momentum and self-interest of the institution can even serve to prevent people from primal, religious encounter which could actually threaten its stability and the social vision it guards.
As Jung said, the gods had become diseases. The names they once rendered luminous had become husks. As I have previously noted, the oldest of religious sins is to worship the husk after the energy has departed. It is called idolatry, and we have raised up many false gods in our time. Consider our contemporary Pantheon: plenipotentiary Progress, massive Materialism; heroic Health; normative Narcissism, nasty Nationalism; sophistic Scientism, and many others. None saves, none connects, none abides, and we all damn well know it."
Twas a dark day in Dallas, November '63 A day that will live on in infamy President Kennedy was a-ridin' high Good day to be livin' and a good day to die Being led to the slaughter like a sacrificial lamb He said, "Wait a minute, boys, you know who I am?" "Of course we do, we know who you are"
We're gonna kill you with hatred, without any respect We'll mock you and shock you and we'll put it in your face We've already got someone here to take your place
Goodbye, Charlie, goodbye, Uncle Sam Frankly, Miss Scarlet, I don't give a damn What is the truth, and where did it go? Ask Oswald and Ruby, they oughta know "Shut your mouth, " said the wise old owl Business is business, and it's a murder most foul
The day that they killed him, someone said to me, "Son The age of the Antichrist has just only begun" Air Force One comin' in through the gate Johnson sworn in at 2:38 Let me know when you decide to throw in the towel It is what it is, and it's murder most foul."
You are born into a body not a belief system. You are not born into a set of beliefs and concepts, but in many cases those belief systems are indoctrinated into us. It's often said, "believe nothing but examine everything." It's whilst we go through the process of examination the possibility of seeing beyond our beliefs can arise, allowing us to discover what is true. Belief is not the truth.
Your god doesn't have a monopoly on love. We do not need to search outside of ourselves to feel love, it's within, it's our very essence. It's there with or without your god.
I'm going to learn a qigong/thai chi dance routine tomorrow in Manchster's new Arriva Studios. There's a three hour workshop to learn the moves, then a public performance....bit daunting to be honest...wish me luck.
Jonathan Pie tells the truth about Braverman and her claim that for many people, living on the streets, in a tent if you're lucky is a lifestyle choice...."when asked as a child, what do you want to be when you grow up, no one has ever said, I want to live in a tent in a scary city and spend my nights cold, hungry and terrified while begging for small change."
bodleing2 Forum Posts (6,132)
RE: Stop Making Sense
Post #20