Remembering Pacifist Poet Hedd Wyn ( 13/1/1887 – 31/7/1917)

Welsh language poet/ pacifist Ellis Humphrey Evans, better known by his bardic pen name Hedd Wyn. (Blessed Peace).was born on the 13th of January 1917, the eldest son of 11 children of Evan and Mary Evans, of Yr Ysgwrn farm, Trawsfynydd. Meironydd.

He began writing Welsh-language poetry aged just 11, mastering the hardest form of Welsh poetry (the cynghanedd) at 12, and continued to write after leaving school to work on the farm when he was 14. By 19 he was a regular competitor in eisteddfodau and won the first of his  chairs at Bala Eisteddfod in 1907. Others followed at Llanuwchllyn, Pwllheli and Pontardawe (the latter in 1915 with the First World War underway).In 1916, he won second place at the at the Aberystwyth National Eisteddfod with Ystrad Fflur, an awdl written in honour of Strata Florida, the medieval Cistercian abbey ruins in Ceredigion. He vowed to win first place the following year.
Wynn had initially sat out the war for three years as a sheep farmer, a Christian pacifist, Hedd Wyn hadn’t enlisted, but when conscription began in 1916, the Evans family were required to send one of their sons to war. To spare his younger brother, Robert, Ellis volunteered. Following a spell of training in March at Litherland in Liverpool Private Evans was despatched for active service in Flanders and found himself stationed with his regiment at the notorious Pilckem Ridge immediately prior to the opening of the Passchendale offensive (3rd Ypres).
Previously while on leave at the farm, he wrote his romantic poem, Yr Arwr (The Hero), for submission to the judges of the National Eisteddfod. The work was inspired by Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Prometheus Unbound. He didn't want  to go back but the military police came for him in June. He left the poem Yr Arwr, (The Hero) on the kitchen table and re wrote it from memory en route to France. Here is a link to  more  on this poem from the People's Collection Wales / Casgliad Y Werin Cymru :-https://www.peoplescollection.wales/story/378223
However the reluctant soldier from the Yr Ysgwrn farm near Trawsfynydd was tragically killed on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium on July 31, 1917. He was one of 9,300 British troops who were slaughtered in the first three days of the Battle of Passchendaele.Soon after being wounded he was carried to a first-aid post and still conscious he asked the doctor "Do you think I will live?" although he had little chance of surviving. Mr Wyn died at around 11am. 
Some weeks after his death on 6 September 1917  when the ceremony at Birkenhead Park,(which was only the third time it had been held outside the Principality)took place, the adjudicators announced that the winning entry had been submitted under the pseudonym Fleur de Lys. At the award ceremony the archdruid rose to summon the poet, in the traditional fashion, to come to take the chair, calling him three times to make himself known. But it then had to be revealed, to the consternation of the gathering, which included the prime minister, David Lloyd George, that Hedd Wyn had fallen while fighting with the Royal Welch Fusiliers “somewhere in France.” The empty chair was draped with a black shroud, and the festival of that year has ever since been called Eisteddfod y Gadair Ddu (The Eisteddfod of the Black) and the Archdruid spoke of ‘the festival in tears and the poet in his grave’ The shockwaves at the time were palpable. “No words can adequately describe the wave of emotion that swept over the vast audience when Wyn’s bardic chair was draped with the symbols of mourning,"  the Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard newspaper reported at the time.. Wyn’s absence that day was emblematic of a lost generation of men who would never return home.

The Black Chair was brought by train and then horse and cart to his parents farm, Yr Ysgwrn, on a hillside above the village of Trawsfynydd in the Prysor Valley, the whole village turned out in mourning. The stone farm cottage, which dates back to the early 16th century, quickly became a place of pilgrimage, where visitors were warmly received by the poet’s family and descendants. Yr Ysgwrn, in Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, was bought for the nation by the Snowdonia National Park Authority (SNPA) in March 2012. The  Park Authority has spent nearly two years restoring Yr Ysgwrn, under the watchful eye of the poet's nephew, Gerald Williams. Now 88, the farmer has helped keep the memory of Hedd Wyn alive , and is delighted to see the end results.A new exhibition and visitors' centre has also been built, and marks the impact of the war on the community.
Over time Hedd Wynn became a powerful and lasting symbol of the many Welsh and British soldiers who were senselessly slaughtered on the killing fields of Europe. Buried initially on the battlefield (out of necessity) his body was subsequently moved to Artillery Wood cemetery, Boeinghe, near Ypres, Flanders following the armistice.

A  memorable, though slightly romanticised Welsh-language film based on HeddWyn's life  has also helped bring his story and verse to a wider audience and was produced in 1992, Hedd Wynn,.which I  fortunate to watch last night on S4C. It is available to purchase on DVD http://www.sainwales.com/store/dvd/sain-dvd-101
Aberystwyth’s National Library of Wales hosts the original manuscript of the ode ‘Yr Arwr’,Hedd Wyn’s final draft of the poem which won him the chair at the 1917 Birkenhead Eisteddfod. The collection also includes a number of personal notes and items and notes of the bard. https://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=3790
The library is also hosting a special exhibition ‘The Fallen Poets’ until 9th September, 2017, commemorating both Hedd Wyn and Edward Thomas, who both died in battle in 1917.  Celebrating their lives and their legacy, the exhibition will also look at ways in which the two have since inspired writers, poets and filmmakers.
In 1918 the decision was made that Ellis' poems should gave a wider audience, and they were published in a collection called "Cerdi'r Budail" (Shepherd's Songs). The money raised by the sale of the book paid for the statue by L.S. Merrifield which the villagers of Trawfynydd pass every day. He is portrayed not as a soldier but as the shepherd they knew. The cross which  marked his grave at Boesinghe is now displayed at his former school, which was renamed "Ysgol Hedd Wyn" in his honour, and there is a memorial plaque at St George's Church at Ypres which has become a place of pilgrimage for Welsh men and women.
One of his most powerful  poems that I have  found translated  is “Y Rhyfel” (War), which I post below.

Y Rhyfell /War-  Hedd Wyn (Translated by Gillian Clarke)

Gwae fi fy myw mewn oes mor ddreng, A Duw ar drai ar orwel pell; O'i ôl mae dyn, yn deyrn a gwreng, Yn codi ei awdurdod hell. Pan deimlodd fyned ymaith Dduw Cyfododd gledd i ladd ei frawd; Mae swn yr ymladd ar ein clyw, A'i gysgod ar fythynnod tlawd. Mae'r hen delynau genid gynt, Ynghrog ar gangau'r helyg draw, A gwaedd y bechgyn lond y gwynt, A'u gwaed yn gymysg efo'r glaw

Bitter to live in times like these. While God declines beyond the seas; Instead, man, king or peasantry, Raises his gross authority. When he thinks God has gone away Man takes up his sword to slay His brother; we can hear death's roar. It shadows the hovels of the poor. Like the old songs they left behind, We hung our harps in the willows again. Ballads of boys blow on the wind, Their blood is mingled with the rain.

Today Hedd Wyn is regarded as one of Wale's foremost poets. The bardic chair that Wyn was never able to claim in 1917  has since been preserved at Wynn’s family home, now a museum, as a poignant reminder of those Wales lost in the war. This poet/Bardd continues to represent a lost generation that could have further enriched our literature and national life had they been spared.

I will end this post with the following poem by Hedd Wynn, translated by the poet  Alan Llwyd who incidentally wrote the script for the film mentioned previously.

Y Blotyn Du

Nid oes gennym hawl ar y sêr,
Na'r lleuad hiraethus chwaith,
Na'r cwmwl o aur a ymylch
Yng nghanol y glesni maith.

Nid oes gennym hawl ar ddim byd
Ond ar yr hen ddaear wyw;
A honno syn anhrefn i gyd
Yng nghanol gogoniant Duw.

The Black Spot

We have no claim to the stars
Nor the sad-faced cloud that immerses
Itself in celestial light.

We only have the right to exist
On earth in its vast devastation,
And it's only man' strife that destroys
The glory of God's creation.

The Poet's Grave in France reads Hedd Wyn Chief Bardd

Statue of Hedd Wyn , Trawsfynnyd

Gwladd Beirdd - Hedd Wyn ; English subtitles

World Day Against Trafficking

Today is World Day Against Trafficking.
Implemented officially by the U.N. General Assembly at the end of 2013, http://www.un.org/en/events/humantrafficking/ it was first marked on 20th July 2014.
World Day Against Trafficking in Persons strives to open up the conversation on the human rights violation that is human trafficking. Human trafficking forces men, women and children into labor or sexual exploitation. It can be found worldwide, just about every country in the world is involved, either as a place of origin, transportation or destination for victims. Especially vulnerable are migrants that have been displaced from their home country due to persecution, famine or war.
This issue of human trafficking erupted into the public conscience at the start of the twenty-first century, nevertheless, it is not a new phenomenon, in fact, it has been a global concern since the mid-nineteenth century. Human trafficking is modern day slavery, however, despite freedom from slavery being defined in numerous international conventions and legal systems of many countries, including The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime and its Protocols 2000, and Slavery Convention 1926, millions of people are still subjected to slavery in many forms today.
Across Europe organised crime groups are trafficking child refugees into prostitution, exploitation and forced labour.The International Labour Organization estimates that 21 million people are victims of forced labour globally. This estimate also includes victims of human trafficking for labour and sexual exploitation. While it is not known how many of these victims were trafficked, the estimate implies that currently, there are millions of trafficking in persons victims in the world. This modern day slavery needs to stop, now.
The UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2016 states that “Conflicts create favourable conditions for trafficking in persons, but not only by generating a mass of vulnerable people escaping violence. Armed groups engage in trafficking in the territories in which they operate, and they have recruited thousands of children for the purpose of using them as combatants in various past and current conflicts. While women and girls tend to be trafficked for marriages and sexual slavery, men and boys are typically exploited in forced labour in the mining sector, as porters, soldiers and slaves”.
Criminal gangs take advantage of the migration crisis, forcing more people into different forms of slavery. At the United Nations in New York, a Declaration on Refugees and Migrants was agreed to by all 193 UN Member States in September 2016.  The New York Declaration is a political document setting forth the states’ commitments to launch a process of intergovernmental negotiations leading to the adoption of two global compacts, one for refugees and the other, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. Of the nineteen commitments adopted by countries in the Declaration, three are dedicated to concrete action against the crimes of human trafficking and migrant smuggling.
You can read the UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2016 here
This is the day also  on which the church remembers campaigners against slavery such as William Wilberforce and Olaudah Equiano. In their memory we need to continue the fight.
Trafficking in persons is one of the most reprehensible crimes against humanity. It is a violation of basic human rights, that involves the manipulation and exploitation of individuals, often leading to violence, intimidation and even death. It is targeted widely at the vulnerable sections of society, especially women and children, but also involves adult male victims.
Theresa May said she wants Britain to be at the forefront of the fight to stamp out modern day slavery and human trafficking.We can help lead this fight now by making safe and legal routes to protection for lone child refugees a reality, and help bring an end to this gross misuse of human life.
Please sign the following petition to open safe and legal routes to sanctuary for these children

http://safepassage.org.uk/petition/

They say laughter is the best medicine

Depression has become a common affliction in today's stressful society. It can result from many factors, including social pressures, the daily toxic political abusers,  psychological stressors, and our own biological makeup, and unwelcome events in our lives can lead to an exacerbation of symptoms. Stress is a big part of life, it is something that cannot be avoided, so we have to find ways to deal with it .
One of the most important things in life, that I have always have helped me personally is the beneficial effects of  laughter and humour. I've tried drugs and alcohol to try and pick me up, sometimes they have, but sometimes they haven't..
Ive  long come to the conclusion though that laughter is the best  medicine for the soul. More than just brightening up your day, sharing a good laugh can actually improve your health. The sound of laughter draws people together in ways that trigger healthy physical and emotional changes in the body.Laughter can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, strengthen your immune system, and diminish pain.
But we should also remember that not everyone is in the mood for humour so we should try to be aware of the sensitivity of others. And when Theresa May and her  Tory' chums  laugh at us all the time, in their mocking and sneering way almost on a daily basis , it often leaves me with a rather unpleasant feeling. I am reminded too that theirs is a sick form of laughter, used only for derision. It's not as if they have suddenly developed a sense of humour, no, not at all. And if their laughing for no reason, perhaps they should take some medicine for it.
However  baring  that in mind  genuine  laughter that actually tickles the funny bones,seems to help blow away the cobwebs of my mind and help reduce negative emotions. Yes we are living in seriously unfunny times  but because humor is associated with lightness and feeling good, it can help stave off political fatigue and bring people together it’s easier to connect over laughter than hopelessness.
So because of that I try to laugh back at the Tory's on a daily basis,  it certainly helps. After all they are the biggest joke in the land at the moment., its easy to  laugh at them, it's fun too, but off course there are other ways. Oh and why do we never hear much of thieves stealing from the Tory's, I'll tell you why professional courtesy. I don't really approve off political jokes it sees to many Tory's getting re elected..
Right I'll end with this little confession I once gave up my seat to a blind person that's  how I lost my job as a bus driver. Always laugh if you can, within reason. laters.

Blessed are the Poets : Dedicated to the memory of Anthony ' Trance ' Jones; Bardd/Poet, R I P

Consciously committed
Communicators of  life
Weavers of magic

Holding up their light.

Devoted practitioners

Understanding the power of words

Trying not to be silent or aloof
Releasing words of significance.
Torrents of imagination

In doorways of navigation

Conveying thoughts of joy and sorrow 

From transient passing shadows borrow,

Daring to question, feeling every emotion

Unbound by retraint or hesitation,

Spoken from the heart

Spreading their messages  true,
Random sparks touching others
Before their work is done,

That remain in memory
Words lasting forever,
In the embers of time

A rustling grain of truth.

Frank O'Hara : Poet of intensity and passion.(27/3/ 1926 - 25/7/1966)

In the early morning of 24 July 1966 the poet Frank O'Hara was struck and gravely injured by a passing jeep on the beach of Fire Island, and tragically died the following day of a ruptured liver, aged only 40...
Frank O’Hara was born Francis Russell O’Hara in Baltimore, Maryland and grew up in Grafton, Massachusetts. In order to hide the fact that he was conceived out of wedlock, his parents led him to believe that he was born in June while in reality he was born in March.After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he graduated from Harvard University with a degree in English in 1950 and received his M.A. from the University of Michigan in 1951. He then moved to New York City and began his advancement through creative society.becoming  employed by the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). selling postcards, where he would eventually work his way up to the Associate Curator of Painting and Sculpture position. 
His quick ascension speaks to the passion, knowledge, and enthusiasm he had for the New York City art world, a world that was thoroughly infused into his writing. During the 1950s and 1960s, O’Hara befriended and championed the new downtown artists, curated exhibits, wrote monographs and catalog copy, writing introductions for exhibits and tours and expressed his various and unusual ideas about the art world in his own poetry.
"I can't even enjoy a blade of grass," he once wrote, "unless I know there's a subway handy, or a record store or some other sign that people do not totally regret life." O'Hara was deeply involved in the New York art scene, particularly with the work of abstract expressionist painters such as Willem De Kooning, Jackson Pollock,Jasper Johns and Franz Kline.  Between 1953 and 1955 he worked as editorial associate for Art News, for which his poet friends John Ashbery and James Schuyler also wrote.  In 1955 he rejoined the staff of MOMA, where he was appointed assistant curator in 1960.
In fact, O’Hara famously wrote Lunch Poems (largely regarded as his most brilliant and important work) during his lunch breaks at the MoMA. Published in 1964, Lunch Poems, according to John Ashbery, destroyed “the congealed surface of academic poetry.”
During his lifetime he was known as "poet among painters," part of a group of such poets who seemed to find inspiration and support from the painters they chose to associate with.He attempted to produce with words the effects those artists had created on canvas.
O'Hara is best known for his   poems, such as 'A Step Away From Them', 'Why I am Not a Painter', and 'The Day Lady Died' (an elegy for Billie Holliday, but some of his later longer poems, in particular 'In Memory of My Feelings' and 'Biotherm (for Bill Berkson)' are equally effective, and have proved influential on a host of younger poets.)
He was a catalytic figure at the intersection of writing, art, dance and music at a seminal time in the US that post war moment when American artists began to assert originality after long being overshadowed by Europeans.
In an essay entitled "Personism: A Manifesto," O'Hara sheds some light on his views towards poetry, declaring that "Nobody should experience anything they don't need to, if they don't need poetry bully for them." In essence, O'Hara wanted poetry to be a personal, spur-of the-moment spontaneity in which abstraction is ruled out in favor of an expression of the artists personal voice or style. A poet of intensity and immediacy, his voice confessional  guided by an unchecked passion. I love his work.
Known throughout his life for his extreme sociability, passion, and warmth, O'Hara had hundreds of friends and lovers throughout his life, many from the New York art and poetry worlds. O'Hara was openly homosexual at a time in which this was less acceptable, and often wrote about his sexuality. For example , the poem "At the Old Place" describes dancing at a gay bar. Furthermore Lunch Poems is dedicated to his friend and lover Joe LeSeuer, with whom he lived for about 11 years until his death.
O'Hara published six books of poetry from 1952 until his death. He is buried in Springs Cemetery on Long Island.Since his death  his mystique , and the seductive power of his work, combined  with  the depth and richness of his achievements as a poet and art critic have been recognized by an international audience. His work constantly popular with readers and never out of print.
Here are a selection of some of my favourite poems, by him, difficult choice, so many to chose from.

Why I'm not a painter

I am not a painter, I am a poet.
Why? I think I would rather be
a painter, but I am not. Well,

for instance, Mike Goldberg
is starting a painting. I drop in.
"Sit down and have a drink" he
says. I drink; we drink. I look
up. "You have SARDINES in it."
"Yes, it needed something there."
"Oh." I go and the days go by
and I drop in again. The painting
is going on, and I go, and the days
go by. I drop in. The painting is
finished. "Where's SARDINES?"
All that's left is just
letters, "It was too much," Mike says.

But me? One day I am thinking of
a color: orange. I write a line
about orange. Pretty soon it is a
whole page of words, not lines.
Then another page. There should be
so much more, not of orange, of
words, of how terrible orange is
and life. Days go by. It is even in
prose, I am a real poet. My poem
is finished and I haven't mentioned
orange yet. It's twelve poems, I call
it ORANGES. And one day in a gallery
I see Mike's painting, called SARDINES. 

The Day Lady Died

It is 12:20 in New York a Friday

three days after Bastille day, yes

it is 1959 and I go get a shoeshine

because I will get off the 4:19 in Easthampton   

at 7:15 and then go straight to dinner

and I don’t know the people who will feed me

I walk up the muggy street beginning to sun   

and have a hamburger and a malted and buy

an ugly NEW WORLD WRITING to see what the poets   

in Ghana are doing these days

                                                        I go on to the bank

and Miss Stillwagon (first name Linda I once heard)   

doesn’t even look up my balance for once in her life   

and in the GOLDEN GRIFFIN I get a little Verlaine   

for Patsy with drawings by Bonnard although I do   

think of Hesiod, trans. Richmond Lattimore or   

Brendan Behan’s new play or Le Balcon or Les Nègres

of Genet, but I don’t, I stick with Verlaine

after practically going to sleep with quandariness

and for Mike I just stroll into the PARK LANE

Liquor Store and ask for a bottle of Strega and   

then I go back where I came from to 6th Avenue   

and the tobacconist in the Ziegfeld Theatre and   

casually ask for a carton of Gauloises and a carton

of Picayunes, and a NEW YORK POST with her face on it

and I am sweating a lot by now and thinking of

leaning on the john door in the 5 SPOT

while she whispered a song along the keyboard

to Mal Waldron and everyone and I stopped breathing

My quietness has a man in it, he is transparent

and he carries me quietly, like a gondola, through the streets.

He has several likenesses, like stars and years, like numerals.

Melancholy Breakfast

Melancholy breakfast

blue overhead blue underneath

the silent egg thinks

and the toaster's electrical

ear waits

the stars are in

"that cloud is hid"

the elements of disbelief are

very strong in the morning

A True Account of Talking to The Sun On Fire Island

The Sun woke me this morning loud
and clear, saying "Hey! I've been
trying to wake you up for fifteen
minutes. Don't be so rude, you are
only the second poet I've ever chosen
to speak to personally

so why
aren't you more attentive? If I could
burn you through the window I would
to wake you up. I can't hang around
here all day."

"Sorry, Sun, I stayed
up late last night talking to Hal."

"When I woke up Mayakovsky he was
a lot more prompt" the Sun said
petulantly. "Most people are up
already waiting to see if I'm going
to put in an appearance."

I tried
to apologize "I missed you yesterday."
"That's better" he said. "I didn't
know you'd come out." "You may be
wondering why I've come so close?"
"Yes" I said beginning to feel hot
wondering if maybe he wasn't burning me
anyway.

"Frankly I wanted to tell you
I like your poetry. I see a lot
on my rounds and you're okay. You may
not be the greatest thing on earth, but
you're different. Now, I've heard some
say you're crazy, they being excessively
calm themselves to my mind, and other
crazy poets think that you're a boring
reactionary. Not me.

Just keep on
like I do and pay no attention. You'll
find that people always will complain
about the atmosphere, either too hot
or too cold too bright or too dark, days
too short or too long.

If you don't appear
at all one day they think you're lazy
or dead. Just keep right on, I like it.

And don't worry about your lineage
poetic or natural. The Sun shines on
the jungle, you know, on the tundra
the sea, the ghetto. Wherever you were
I knew it and saw you moving. I was waiting
for you to get to work.

And now that you
are making your own days, so to speak,
even if no one reads you but me
you won't be depressed. Not
everyone can look up, even at me. It
hurts their eyes."
"Oh Sun, I'm so grateful to you!"

"Thanks and remember I'm watching. It's
easier for me to speak to you out
here. I don't have to slide down
between buildings to get your ear.
I know you love Manhattan, but
you ought to look up more often.

And
always embrace things, people earth
sky stars, as I do, freely and with
the appropriate sense of space. That
is your inclination, known in the heavens
and you should follow it to hell, if
necessary, which I doubt.

Maybe we'll
speak again in Africa, of which I too
am specially fond. Go back to sleep now
Frank, and I may leave a tiny poem
in that brain of yours as my farewell."

"Sun, don't go!" I was awake
at last. "No, go I must, they're calling
me."
"Who are they?"

Rising he said "Some
day you'll know. They're calling to you
too." Darkly he rose, and then I slept.                         


Heart

I'm not going to cry all the time
nor shall I laugh all the time,
I don't prefer one "strain" to another.
I'd have the immediacy of a bad movie,
not just a sleeper, but also the big,
overproduced first-run kind. I want to be
at least as alive as the vulgar. And if
some aficionado of my mess says "That's
not like Frank!", all to the good! I
don't wear brown and grey suits all the time,
do I? No. I wear workshirts to the opera,
often. I want my feet to be bare,
I want my face to be shaven, and my heart--
you can't plan on the heart, but
the better part of it, my poetry, is open.                         

Dear Nick Cave

Dear Nick Cave who I  truly have long admired, are you really happy to appease the Israeli regime, like Radiohead recently did, to the anguish of their many fans, because at moment this state is now executing a genocidal war against 2 million Palestinians (most of them children) in besieged Gaza:
"At least 30 hospitals, 70 primary health care centres and a blood blank are at risk of full or partial closure due to continued power outages and not enough fuel or spare parts for back-up generators" https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170722-who-gaza-health…/
Israel openly uses culture as a form of propaganda to justify its illegal occupation of Palestine. Just as South African anti-Apartheid activists called for an international boycott which led to the downfall of the Apartheid regime, Palestinians are asking for a boycott of Israel as part of the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) campaign. Thousands of artists across the world now refuse to perform in Israel.
The cultural boycott of Israel continues to grow, despite the efforts by Israeli promoters to ignore it.
More than 1,200 UK-based artists and cultural workers have signed Artists for Palestine’s online pledge to refuse to perform or exhibit in Israel and nearly 460 have signed a similar pledge in the US.
In New York City alone, nearly 300 artists have endorsed the cultural boycott.
I urge  you  to to read Ben Ehrenreich's 2016 book 'The Way to the Spring', and Max Blumenthal's 2015 book 'The 51 Day War, so that you can understand the reality of the situation for Palestinians under occupation'.
Pease add your name to the list and respect the boycott.

Johnny Cash - Sunday morning coming down.

Well, I woke up Sunday morning
With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt.
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad,
So I had one more for dessert.
Then I fumbled in my closet through my clothes
And found my cleanest dirty shirt.
Then I washed my face and combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.

I'd smoked my mind the night before
With cigarettes and songs I'd been picking.
But I lit my first and watched a small kid
Playing with a can that he was kicking.
Then I walked across the street
And caught the Sunday smell of someone frying chicken.
And Lord, it took me back to something that I'd lost
Somewhere, somehow along the way.

On a Sunday morning sidewalk,
I'm wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
'Cause there's something in a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone.
And there's nothing short a' dying
That's half as lonesome as the sound
Of the sleeping city sidewalk
And Sunday morning coming down.

No apologies

Frozen moments preserve my presence
Time keeps tumbling on and on,
Slowly but surely I trip over the fear
Clouds are passing over wounds,
Medication soothes the brain
The rain releases the gift of affirmation,
Laughter escapes from the darkness
Out of this  trust engulfs,
To allow the cultivation of breath
Inner reason that speaks my truth,
Continuing journeys of navigation
Avenues of concentration,
To allow destruction to disappear
For peace to visit  sanctuary,
Though life will always be a struggle
Friends I will always  respect,
Mind occasionally exhausted
Will be rebellious, offer no apologies.

Anais Nin (21/2/03 - 14/1/77) - You have a right to experiment with your life.

" You have a right to experiment with your life. You will make mistakes. And they are right too. No, I think there was too rigid a pattern. You came out of an education and are supposed to know your vocation. Your vocation is fixed, and maybe ten years later you find you are not a teacher anymore or you're not a painter anymore. It may happen. It has happened. I mean Gauguin decided at a certain point he wasn't a banker anymore; he was a painter. And so he walked away from banking. I think we have a right to change course. But society is the one that keeps demanding that we fit in and not disturb things. They would like you to fit in right away so that things work now.”    

The taste of magic (After Tinariwen, Cardigan Castle 15/7/17)

Fierce calm descended
Near a brimming river,
African guerrillas released magic
Sky donned its celestine cloak;
People danced and swayed
Sipping wine, feeling nourishment,
Shadows stole kisses of friendship
And the scent of  memories.
Devotees captivated under moon
Moved together in space,
Rhythms soothing, licking minds
Haunting music carrying treasure,
From the Sahara sharing subtle beauty
Songs of dignity, freedom and unity,
Dispensing to all rolling guitar
Music flooded into souls,
From Mali, desert blues uplifting
Love has no ending.

Lost Songs of Palestine

Despite the precariousness of the peace that exists in the region,  the Palestinian voice still resonates.
Lost Songs of Palestine is a collection of traditional folk songs which have been sung by generations of Palestinians, but which have been recently overshadowed after years of occupation. With an outstanding performance by the world music group ANATOLIA, Lost Songs of Palestine captures the essence of a time long past and a future long awaited. Lost Songs of Palestine is a masterpiece which will inspire both Arabic and non-Arabic listeners.
The CD features both solo improvisations (taqasim) as well as ensemble works (both vocal and instrumental) representing traditional Palestinian urban and village music. Some of the songs are found in other parts of the Arab world where they are sung in popularized versions. But for Westerners, Lost Songs of Palestineis a new opportunity to learn about the culture and rich musical heritage of an ancient people.
ANATOLIA is a western Massachusetts-based group of talented musicians whose love and dedication to Middle Eastern music has earned them wide acclaim from both ethnomusicologists and audiences at sold-out performances. The musicians of ANATOLIA perform on authentic Middle Eastern folk music instruments including kanun (zither), baglama (long neck lute, also known as saz), divan sazi (large baglama), ud (short neck lute, also known as oud), klarnet (clarinet), keman (violin), nay (end blown flute, also known as ney), bandir (also known as deff), riqq (tambourine), mazhar (large tambourine), darbuka (dumbek), tabla, zills (finger cymbals) and vocals.
Lost Songs of Palestine includes: Weyn A Ramallah, Arrozana, Dommak Doom, Ya Meet Masa, Marmar Zamaani, Ala Dal'oona, Ya Hweydalak, Housnak Ya Zeyn, Mouwashshah Lamma Bada Yatathanna and Al Yadil Yadi.
ANATOLIA's first CD Folk Songs and Dance Music of Turkey and the Arab World was released in 1996. Lost Songs of Palestine was released in February, 2001. Middle Eastern Songs and Dances for Children was released in 2005.
Founded in 1994 and directed by Edward J. Hines, ANATOLIA is dedicated to the preservation of folk, classical and dance music traditions of the Middle East. The musicians of ANATOLIA strive to bring a new understanding of Middle Eastern cultures to Western audiences, while celebrating music and dance traditions its members have known since childhood.
From Edward Hines Music :- http://www.hinesmusic.com/Anatolia.html.

China's Nobel Laureate ,dissident leader and human rights hero Liu Xiaobo dies.

Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate and writer Liu Xiaobo, who was imprisoned since 2009 for calling for more freedom in his country, has died. He was recently released into hospital for treatment after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer but died yesterday from multiple organ failure whilst under heavy armed guard.
The death of the 61-year-old dissident and veteran of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 has sent shockwaves through China’s activist community and among human rights campaigners across the world. In Hong Kong, about 100 democracy activists  protested outside China's liaison office.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said Mr Liu was a "courageous fighter for civil rights and freedom of expression", while the Norwegian Nobel Committee accused Beijing of having a “heavy responsibility for his premature death”.
Rex Tillerson, the United States’ Secretary of State, expressed condolences over the death of Mr Liu and called on Beijing to release his wife, the poet Liu Xia, and allow her to leave China.Mr Liu's wife  had been placed under house arrest in 2010, but was allowed to see him at the hospital  as her husband's health deteriorated over the past couple of weeks  before he died. Rights groups and Western governments have mourned Liu Xiaobo's death and also called for authorities to grant his wife Liu Xia and the rest of his family freedom of movement.  Her fate will now be the centre of concern among human rights groups.
Amid increasingly desperate calls from supporters for him  to be granted his dying wish to receive treatment for his condition abroad, Mr Liu remained in China where he died on Thursday evening, local officials said.His friends claim China’s refusal to allow him to travel overseas was an attempt to shorten his life, and ensure he could not criticise Beijing in his final moments.Beijing had repeatedly dismissed foreign criticism of its treatment of Mr Liu, saying that it is an internal affair.
Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, said: “The Chinese government’s arrogance, cruelty, and callousness are shocking – but Liu’s struggle for a rights-respecting, democratic China will live on.”
Mr Liu was born to an intellectual family in Jilin province in China’s northeast and led a life of fearless activism.The former professor of literature at Beijing Normal University wrote about the value of individual freedoms and nonviolent resistance.
He was influential at the Tiananmen Square protests, which ended when tanks rolled into central Beijing killing hundreds, possibly over a thousand protesters.Mr Liu was said to have saved the lives of many students when he negotiated between the army and protesters as they ended their occupation of the square.
Liu Xiaobo was one of China’s preeminent dissident writers and activists.Devoted not only to the end of China's one-party rule but also to the absolute necessity of replacing it with a democratic system, he was committed to non-violent protest. He was arrested in December 2008 on the eve of the release of Charter 08,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_08 an extraordinary declaration he had co-authored calling for political reform, greater human rights, and an end to one-party rule.
This bold manifesto, which was signed by more than 10,000 people after it went online, calls for the protection of basic human rights and the reform of China's one-party system.
- Words seen 'as crimes' -
Western governments, rights groups and fellow activists repeatedly called for his release.
Charter 08 specifically demands the abolition of subversion as a criminal offence.
"We should make freedom of speech, freedom of the press and academic freedom universal, thereby guaranteeing that citizens can be informed and can exercise their right of political supervision," it says.
"We should end the practice of viewing words as crimes."
Liu was subsequently held under ‘residential surveillance’ in a windowless room for more than six months. In June 2009, he was formally charged and transferred to the Public Security Bureau Detention Centre in Beijing,where he reported an improvement in his conditions; he was allowed outside and had detainees in his cell with whom he could talk. On 25 December 2009, Liu was convicted of ‘incitement to subversion’ for his role in Charter 08 and for several online articles. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Liu  spent much of his adult life as a target of the Chinese government. He played a crucial part in the 1989 pro-democracy movement, staging a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square in support of the students and leading calls for a sustainable democratic movement. He helped  negotiate the safe exit from Tiananmen Square of thousands of student demonstrators on the night of June 3-4, 1989 when the military bloodily suppressed six week-long protests in the heart of Beijing.Despite spending two years  in prison for his role, he continued to speak out in favour of freedom of expression and democracy. As such, he spent an additional three years in a re-education-through-labour camp (1996-1999) and was regularly detained and harassed until his most recent arrest.
Liu had been a prominent member of PEN http://www.pen-international.org/ and served as president of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre (ICPC), which does on-the-ground advocacy work in China despite constant pressure from the authorities. In 2010 Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his long and non-violent struggle for human rights in China. Liu was the first Chinese citizen to win the Nobel Peace Prize and one of only three people to have won it while detained by their own government. He was the second Nobel laureate to die in custody after German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, who passed away in a hospital under the Nazis in 1938.
"I want to tell the regime that is withholding my freedom: I have no enemies," Liu wrote in an essay that was published worldwide in 2010. Liu included police officers, public prosecutors and judges in his statement. "I do not accept your surveillance, your confinement, your judgements," he wrote. "But I do respect your professions and your personalities." He added: "Hatred corrodes the wisdom and the conscience of a human being. Demonizing others can poison the spirit of a nation, destroy tolerance and humanity, and block the path to progress and democracy. I hope to be able to respond with best intentions to the hostility of the regime, and to defuse hatred with love." 
The text was read out on the stage when Liu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 2010. The Norwegian Nobel Committee honored Liu for his long and non-violent fight for fundamental human rights in China. An empty chair sat where he would have were he not in prison.
This is a sad moment  for human rights, but Liu Xiaobo leaves behind a powerful legacy to inspire others to continue the struggle for human rights in China and around the world.
A poet, scholar, and courageous advocate, Liu Xiaobo dedicated his life to the pursuit of democracy and liberty. With courage and dignity he inspired millions. I hope he is the last victim in China's long record of treating words as crimes. It's leaders should bow their heads in collective shame.

Liu Xiaobo -  One letter

one letter is enough
for me to transcend
and face you to speak

as the wind blows
past the night
uses its own blood
to write a secret verse
that reminds me each word
is the last word

the ice in your body
melts into a myth of fire
in the eyes of the executioner
fury turns to stone

two sets of iron rails
unexpectedly overlap
moths flap toward lamp
light, an eternal sign
that traces your shadow

Not ready yet

In losing I knew what  I'd lost
Still recognising the joy and pain,
By the rivers edge, death called
Beckoning me to come closer,
No, I gently replied I'll bide my time
My spirit for now seeks existence,
Even when shadows darken
And my heart has been broken,
Still finding solace on this earth
Got lots of things to get done,
Guess the end will have open door policy
This is life's promise, it's simple honesty,
I'm simply not ready yet.

Ciwan Haco - Gula Sor (Red Flower)

"Gula Sor" ("Red Flower" in Kurdish) is a song by Ciwan Haco about the Kurdish lives lost to the wars and oppression in the Middle East, and in particular, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Kurds have a legend about the red flowers that decorate various places in the mountains and hills of the geographical region of Kurdistan and that, in some cases, grow during all four seasons. The legend goes that the flowers get their color from the blood of the Kurdish martyrs. The song is dedicated to these martyrs and describes the flowers as a memory of their simple human desire for freedom and the love that they and all people have for their native lands.
For the past five centuries the Kurds of Central Asia have been forced to live under oppressive regimes and to seek refuge out of their traditional homeland. The oppression the Kurds have experienced, combined with the suppression of their language has led many of them to believe that they are among the most hated peoples of the world. The Kurdish proverb, “Kurds have no friends,” expresses that sentiment. Despite the suffering the Kurds have endured, they remain a culturally distinct people.
Ciwan Haco born in 1957 near Qamishlo in Syria. He is a descendant of the Kurdish noble famaly, Haco Agha, from the district of Mardin. As a result of repression after the rebellion of Shaikh Said 1925, the family left the region of Mardin. They settled down in Ciwans Birthplace .
After finishing high school, he left for Germany in order to continue his studies. He studied music at the University of Bochum for three years. He is now residing in Sweden.. He is most famous for successfully combining traditional Kurdish music with modern jazz, rock, pop and other genres. His earliest work consists of traditional Kurdish songs and songs about love and social and political hardships that Kurds have endured in the Middle East.In his songs, he has  repeatedly expressed with pride that he is closely linked with the suffering and struggle of his people in Kurdistan. Very popular with the Kurdish diaspora as well as with the Kurdish people in Kurdistan. He has played many concerts across Europe.
"Gula Sor" is from one of Ciwan Haco's earlier albums and is performed in a Kurdish language called Kurmanci, which is spoken by the majority of Kurds.

Kurdish/ Kurmanci Lyrics

Hay gula sor, hilbû jor, bîn da dor

gula sor, gula sor

li paş çiyayê kaf şîn bû

alem jêre evîn bû

bi me xweş, da me heş

em bi bîna wê sermest

emê pê şa bin serbest

 

hey gula sor, hilbû jor, bîn da dor

gula sor gula sor

hay gul, gula sor gul

gul gula sor, gula sor gula sor

 

nezanîn, xemrevîn, xemilîn

pê zemîn

gula bi kelemê di nav baxê îrema

hey gula sor, alem li dor

bicivin û bînbikin dor bi dor

 

hey gula sor, hilbû jor, bîn da dor

gula sor gula sor

hay gul, gula sor gul

gul gula sor, gula sor gula sor

English Translation - Red Rose

Hey red rose, grew high and spread its smell around

Red rose, red rose

Your place is behind the Kaf mountain

The world fell in love with it

Is a source of enjoyment for us and brought us to a reason

With its smell we became ecstatic

We found life and became free

 

Hey red rose, grew high and spread its smell around

Red rose, red rose

Hey red rose, red rose

Rose red rose, red rose, red rose

 

Ignorance, comforter and smartened itself up

On this earth

Branchy rose in the Garden of Eden

Hey red rose, wrapped all around

Come together and smell it all around

 

Hey red rose, grew high and spread its smell around

Red rose, red rose

Hey Red rose, red rose

Rose red rose, red rose, red rose

Remembering Srebenica

Thousands have  gathered in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica to commemorate Europe’s worst atrocity, a genocide unprecedented in Europe since the Second World War.
The remains of 71 recently identified victims were laid to rest at Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Centre and Cemetery, to join 6,504 white gravestones  as mourners observed the twenty-second anniversary of the massacre.
We remember the more than  8000 Bosnian fathers, brothers and sons were systematically separated from their wives, mothers and daughters, taken away, executed and dumped into hastily dug pits (so inappropriate to call them graves).
Every year, new bodies are discovered and the remains are identified through DNA analysis before being buried at Potocari.Thousands of activists each year attend massive marches to remember the genocide victims.
Srebrenica had been declared a UN safe zone, to which thousands of Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) had fled during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. However in July 1995, General Ratko Mladić and his Serbian paramilitary units overran and captured the town,  Dutch  UN peacekeeping forces were at the time accused of  failing to do enough to prevent the massacre.The Muslim men and boys were told by the Dutch peacekeepers they would be safe and handed over to the Bosnian Serb army. They never returned. The Netherlands  has since been found  partly liable for the deaths of 300 Muslims killed in the Srebrenica massacre, a court recently confirmed.The Hague appeals court upheld a decision from 2014 that ordered the Dutch state to pay compensation to the victims families.
Srebrenica  happened during a war with seemingly few rules of engagement, bitter fighting, indiscriminate shelling of cities and towns, ethnic cleansing and systematic mass rape. Essentially a territorial conflict, one in which people of difference looked back on times of peaceful coexistence, however fragile, and forward to ethnic separation, exclusion and to living apart.
In March last year, former Bosnian Serb political leader, Radovan Karadzic, was convicted of war crimes for his role in the Srebrenica killings and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Prosecutors at The Hague war crimes tribunal have called for a life sentence to be imposed on the Bosnian Serb military commander, Ratko Mladic, for genocide and crimes against humanity committed by his forces during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. Yet for many Serbs he is still regarded as a hero of his people and is celebrated.
Humanity has lived through the darkest of times, but few events have stained our collective history more than the Srebrenica genocide.Today we remember the victims, survivors and those still fighting for justice. Let us continue to unite against forces of hatred. We must continue to learn lessons from this tragic event, never forget and recognise the dangers of what can manifest when racism, prejudice,  religious-hatred and discrimination go unchallenged and ethnic divisions are exploited by political leaders.

Here is a link to the official site of rememberance.:-

http://www.srebrenica.org.uk/

Erich Mühsam ( 6/4/ 1878 - 10/7/ 34) - The Revolutioner

On 10 th July 1934 Erich Mühsam, German anarchist poet,cabaret performer, who achieved international prominence during the years of the Weimar Republic for works which, before Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, condemned  Nazism and satirized the future dictator.was found dead at the Orianenburg concentration camp. He had been murdered during the night by Nazis.The nazis claimed that he committed suicide. Many details and many testimonies proved that he was coldly killed by the SS. 
Miihsam was the son of a pharmacist. In his first collections, which included The Desert (1904), he depicted the world through the eyes of a lonely hero. He published topical verse in satirical journals. In its thematic content, Mühsam’s poetry was similar to the rebellious antiwar lyric poetry of left-wing expressionism. For the first time in 20th-century German democratic poetry, Miihsam created the heroic figure of the revolutionary.
Erich Mühsam represented the idea of ​​nonviolent anarchism and characterized anarchists as follows:
"An anarchist never enters into voluntary commitments that can  affect self-determination or subordinate him to authority."
The way he lived shows how consistently he followed his credo, formulated in 1918: "And if they slay me, to obey is to lie!" Mühsam tried repeatedly to unite all left-wing parties in solidarity against the war and with these pacifist efforts he was a thorn in the eye of the imperial empire. After a counterrevolutionary coup in Munich, he was arrested and remained in prison until 1925. When, after his release, he and his wife arrived at the Anhalter Bahnhof in Berlin, thousands of comrades were waiting for him singing the Internationale, for which they were attacked by the police.
In 1929, the Jewish-born Mühsam warned the SPD and the KPD that the fascists were planing a coup.In the night of the burning of the Reichstag, 27th to 28th February 1933, Mühsam was arrested and taken to jail. His plan to escape the next morning to Prague did not work out. He was held in various prisons and concentration camps and suffered  repeatedly months of beatings and torture.In his satirical play Weather for All (1930; published posthumously), he exposed the behind-the-scenes collusion of the Nazis, industrialists, and the German military clique and the conciliatory policy of the right-wing Social Democratic leaders.
After his death he was buried on 16 July 1934 in the cemetary of Dahlem. The following  is a short account of his life, work and subsequent  martyrdom.:- https://libcom.org/library/erich-m%C3%BChsam-his-life-his-work-his-martyrdom-%E2%80%93-augustin-souchy

The Revolutioner - Erich Mühsam, 1908 (Original in German)

Dedicated to German Social Democracy

A guy for revolution screamed
Who as civilian lanterns cleaned
Marched like chased by Lucifer
With all the revolutioners

And he cried: “I revolute!”
His revoluting hat so cute
Tilted over his left ear
Felt most dangerous, oh dear!

But the revoluters roved
In the middle of the road
Where usually, without dismay
He cleans the lanterns every day

The revolutionary crowd
Began to tear the lanterns out
The pavement disarrayed
They built a barricade!
The pavement disarrayed
They built a barricade!

Our revolutionary cried:
“People, I’m the cleaning guy
Of this lamp, so kind and warm
Please, don’t do it any harm.”

“If we take away their light
The citizens won’t see at night
Spare these lamps, I do deplore
Or I won’t play with you no more!”

The revolutionaries laughed
And the gas lanterns they smashed
And the lampman slid away
Cried so bitter in dismay

So he stayed at home
And wrote a mighty tome:
Called: How to revolt
and still scrub lanterns to the last bolt

Don't live in fear

Don't live in fear. Live your life.It is our responsibility to break down these walls of indifference, to shatter these conspiracies of silence,to stand up and be counted and not look around to see whoever else is standing before we make a judgment to do so, because in the world in which we live, there are few people prepared to stand, let alone be counted.

So open up the borders, give refugees a safe welcome, oppose war, fight injustice, stand with others in solidarity. Together we can make a difference. In the words of the philosopher Edmund Burke ’the surest way to ensure that evil will triumph in the world is for enough good people to do nothing.’ 

United we can bring about a better society, we can cheer one another on  in pursuit of love, truth, justice and freedom. 

People standing together, gain strength, I believe in people  power,the more of us standing together, raising the call for justice and equality, the louder our voice. United we can take on the might of governments, corporations, and the media , holding forces of tyranny and oppression that brutalizes and dehumanises to account. With a shared inclusive identity in which all have a stake, we can build another world. Never be complicit through silence. And as for Jayden K Smith they can simply piss off.

River poem

( no apologies, another poem for Jane , 9/5/ 60 - 8/1/17)

We sat together by the river teifi
My dear friend and I,
As life floated on by
Onwards  into eternity,
We held hands, consumed by love,
As waters moved  so feely
We had so much in common,
Our laughter rippled
As tidal currents flowed on and on,
We smiled and consoled one another
Trusting the forces of nature,
Gliding and glistening
Our love was real,
Reflections of the past
All belong to this earth,
As time rumbles on
Waters deep hold a common treasury
The future will always, belongs to us all.

Hold HSBC to account.

The first week of July has seen lots of activities for the Stop Arming Israel campaign across the country, coinciding with the third anniversary of the brutal military assault on Gaza. In the summer of 2014, Israel carried out its deadliest ever massacre of Palestinians in Gaza, killing more than 2,300 people. Over 550 of these were children.
HSBC holds shares and provides loans to military and technology that sell weapons and equipment to Israel used in the abuse of Palestinians’ human rights,. HSBC’s complicity in Israel’s militarised oppression includes Elbit shares worth £3.64m and  holds £180m of shares in BAE Systems, a key company involved in manufacturing the F-16 fighter jets used by Israel to attack Palestinians in Gaza. HSBC also holds £102m of shares in Boeing, who have provided Hellfire missiles, F-15 Eagle fighter jets, MK84 2000-lb bombs and Apache helicopters used in Israel’s devastating attacks on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Since the summer of  2012, HSBC has also been involved in syndicates with other banks that have provided loans to arms companies supplying weapons to Israel worth around £19.3 billion.The bank was also involved in providing loans to Caterpillar, whose bulldozers are used to demolish Palestinian homes.
BDS campaigners said HSBC policy appears to state that the bank should not give financial support to the arms trade. Riya Hassan of the Palestinian BDS national committee said: “By investing in and providing loans to the arms companies that help Israel to oppress Palestinians, HSBC is lending its support to Israel’s violations of international law.“HSBC is profiting from the armed violence and repression that lies at the heart of Israel’s system of oppression over the Palestinian people.”

The anti-poverty charity’s senior militarism and security campaigner Ryvka Barnard said: “HSBC holds shares in, and arranges loans to, a number of companies that sell weapons and military technology to Israel, used in the abuse of Palestinians’ human rights, including war crimes.
“If HSBC is serious about a commitment to human rights, its first step must be to immediately end its business relationship with companies that sell weapons to Israel.”

Please keep  calling on HSBC to immediately end all forms of support for arms companies that help Israel to oppress Palestinians and violate international law. People will be taking further action in due course to pressure HSBC to end its complicity with the Israeli arms trade.
We must urge them to end its complicity in Israel’s systematic violation of Palestinian rights.

Do not let  HSBC and Elbit Systems look away from the consequences of their continued dealings with the Israeli military. Arming any country in my opinion in this unethical way, is simply wrong. 

https://secure.waronwant.org/page/11112/action/1?locale=en-GB

Magic

(was not sure whether to share this, but arrived a moment ago, as mood descended,  as it made me feel better I thought id share it.)

I have not forgotten, that out of the darkness
An individual arrived, put a spell on this earth,
A faraway voice nearly seven months gone,
(in my head,  still  keeps an eye on us)
Releases rainbow lakes  into which I dive,
In slow motion her hands outstretched move devotion
Allow my fears to disappear from this troubled world,
In the storms calm descends, her eyes appear illuminating 
Casting  captivating rays in every town and city,
Walking beside us, a little flower of heaven
With compassion on her lips, an inspiration of magic,
Though faraway, still releases  beauty
Putting smiles back on  faces, allowing flowers to bloom  
As stars shine down feel the magic.

Happy 69th Birthday NHS

Nye Bevans legacy came into the world 69 years ago this morning, when he opened Park Hospital in Manchester at a time of rationing and shortages, when we were nearly bankrupt, a jewel  that the war generation left us with, a proud legacy, for us to all to continue to share.For the first-time doctors, nurses, opticians, dentists and pharmacists all worked under one organisation, free at the point of use. A healthcare service which is available to everyone for free is what separates us from the US. It offered for the first time a free healthcare system for all, and has since  played a vital role in caring for all aspects of our nations health. It has been the envy of the world ever since. My own father served it well for nigh on 40 years.Remember we paid for it, so it is owned by us, it is our precious commodity, it must survive, we must tear the vultures hands from it.
It wouldn’t be possible to run a 7-day NHS, caring for millions of people day-in-day-out without the hard work and dedication of its staff. Despite all the adversity that’s thrown at them: poor pay, bursary cuts, hospital parking fines and staff shortages to name a few; they continue to become stronger and relentlessly deliver fantastic healthcare to the nation .Recent tragic events that have taken place in London, Manchester and Grenfell Tower have once again highlighted the strength, professionalism , dedication and bravery of our healthcare staff. It is truly inspiring to see how amazing the staff handled the awful situation and it was a testament to every healthcare worker throughout the UK. They  are a credit to our nation and we couldn’t be more proud.
The NHS  here in Wales employs close to 72,000 staff which makes it Wales’ biggest employer. I can never forget the compassion they gave to my dear departed, the staff always managing to keep her spirits high, never once showing any dereliction of care.Dedicated, compassionate staff  are under increased pressure, leading to low moral. Recent figures have emerged that 2/4s of hospitals have been warned about dangerous staff shortages.
As the Tory's and their rotten hearts seek to dismantle it,  we should not forget Nye's words who said ' It will last as long as their are folk with enough faith to fight for it. We  cannot reach the day again where people make a profit out of our sickness.On its birthday we should also join the call for fair pay for all NHS staff - scrap the cap ,Public sector pay has been capped for too long. This is despite rising inflation and increased living costs. Workers in the UK are on average £1200 worse off a year than in 2008. It's not OK that NHS staff like nurses are resorting to food banks to get by
We are now standing at a precipice: the NHS has been severely damaged by underfunding and privatisation .But remember we paid for it, so it is owned by us, it is our precious commodity, it must survive, we must tear the vultures hands from it.As the Tory's and their rotten hearts seek to dismantle it,  we should not forget Nye's words who said ' It will last as long as their are folk with enough faith to fight for it.' We  cannot reach the day again where people make a profit out of our sickness . The NHS is a shining example of how a caring society can create   good and safe care based on social solidarity., making such a great contribution towards social and health equality.    
Please sign the following  birthday card to Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt a message - It's time to care for the NHS

http://www.labour.org.uk/index.php/actions/happy-birthday-nhs