Bicycle Day :Happy birthday LSD

On this day, April 19, 1943  Albert Hoffmann, a 37 year old chemist for Sandoz, in Basel, Switzerland, ingested intentionally a  minute amount—just 250 micrograms--of a compound derived from the ergot fungus thus synthesizing  lysergic acid diethylamide for the first time.Three days earlier, he had absorbed a small amount of the drug either through his fingertips or by accidentally ingesting it. Anyway, less than an hour later, Hoffman began to feel strange and noticed sudden and intense changes in his perception. He decided to pedal home from his laboratory. His bike ride accompanied by strong hallucinations developed into a real trip. Hoffman turned on, tuned in, becoming the first human to trip on LSD. This is how Hoffman learned about the effects of this substance and  experienced all its heavenly and hellish effects.

 Hofmann realized he had made a significant discovery: a psychoactive substance with extraordinary potency, capable of causing significant shifts of consciousness in incredibly low doses.He wrote about his experiments and experience on April 22, which was later put into his book LSD: My Problem Child. He saw the drug as a powerful psychiatric tool,  because of its intense and introspective nature, he couldn’t imagine anyone using it recreationally.

Hoffman admitted that the substance would be dangerous in the wrong hands. Look at the sad tale of Syd Barrett and others, we've all probably encountered, the same drug that awakens us can also enslave us or drive us mad.

Albert Hofmann  had first synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in November 1938, while researching lysergic acid derivatives. The main intention of the synthesis was to obtain an analeptic (a central nervous system stimulant).

Researchers were looking initially  at ways of identifying and synthesizing chemical compounds from plants. Hofmann chose ergot, a fungus that grows on rye and other cereals, which was formerly used by midwives to stop bleeding after childbirth. It also causes ergotism, a form of fungal poisoning, which was a common complaint among medieval pilgrims.
Hofmann managed to isolate some of ergot's active substances, including a drug that stops post-natal haemorrhaging.But he is best remembered for his accidental discovery of LSD ..

After Hoffman’s discovery, psychologists clinically researched the drug throughout the 40s, 50s, and 60s, with the Swiss company Sandoz Pharmaceuticals distributing free samples of the chemical for research purposes.Alfred Hubbard read a report discussing the hallucinogenic effects of the then-obscure drug and tried it in 1951. He became known as the first true proponent for LSD outside of the research world after realizing that it could be used to explore the depths of the human psyche. He began researching and distributing the compound, eventually swapping his LSD for psilocybin, the psychoactive chemical in certain mushrooms, being studied by a Harvard psychologist, Dr.Timothy Leary.

Leary went on to become the most high-profile researcher and proponent of the drug, eventually losing his position at Harvard for the controversial nature of his advocacy. He published The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead with Richard Alpert in 1964, a work that compared the nature of tripping to the spiritual experience of birth and rebirth detailed in the Tibetan tome.Leary identified phases of the psychedelic experience with the Bardo stages of consciousness outlined in the Tibetan Book of the Dead,from "complete transcendence" to " routine game reality " and indeed the arrival of LSD coincided with a surge of interest in mystical and esoteric subjects He advocated for students to “Turn on, tune in, and drop out,” a message that was picked up by the counterculture and perpetuated with the rising prevalence of acid parties.

Ken Kesey served as a medical guinea pig testing LSD and other psychoactive drugs in the 1950’s (at the time, the CIA was also testing LSD as a weapon as part of its MKUltra program, thinking that it could be used as “truth sermon” or to incapacitate enemy forces). After publishing One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest in 1962, a book detailing his experiences during the research project, the financial success of the book allowed him to move to California, where he began hosting a series of “Acid Tests” in San Francisco along with his gang of Merry Pranksters. Enter the Grateful Dead, then known as The Warlocks  who served as the house band for these tests, during which attendees dropped acid and explored LSD’s mind-altering effects.

The 1960's,  saw LSD use became widespread among people who sought to alter and intensify their perceptual experience, to achieve insights into the universe and themselves, and to deepen emotional connection with others.

At the helm of the counterculture revolution of the 60s and beyond, increasingly, the government became worried about the use of the drug, associating it with the anti-war sentiment and viewing it as a threat to American middle class, traditional values. After Dr. Sidney Cohen, a doctor who tested the psychoanalytical capabilities of the compound, testified before Congress in 1966 and declared that the drug was dangerous in the wrong hands, LSD was made illegal in 1967.

 Hofmann called LSD "medicine for the soul" and was frustrated by the worldwide prohibition that has pushed it underground. "It was used very successfully for 10 years in psychoanalysis," he said, adding that the drug was hijacked by the youth movement of the 1960's and then unfairly demonized by the establishment that the movement opposed.

While the counterculture raged on, with time the popularity of LSD subsided in the 80s, as other drugs became en vogue. However, as the turn of the new millennium approached, so did the youth’s interest in the psychedelic compound, with the drug reemerging in popularity in the 90’s and into the 2000’s through to now.

 Psychedelic enthusiasts  across the world now commemorate Hoffman's discovery of LSD's effects every April 19, a.k.a. "Bicycle Day. "  The first celebration took place in 1985. It was initiated by Thomas B. Roberts of DeKalb, Illinois. 

Albert Hoffman's amazing discovery  has subsequently contributed to countless works of art, literature, and music. Releasing a rich banquet of inspiration that still manages to fuel our senses today.From the books of Aldous Huxley, Kurt Vonnegut , Jr, to the music of Jimi Hendrix, my local heros Sendelica, acid still catches the imagination. I've personally taken a few trips in my time, not for a while though, never seem to come across  it,  perhaps people are hiding it from me, because they've seen me under the influence, managed to hitch to glastonbury from west wales, under the influence , stopping on way back for some respite in a field by the motorway for a while, to gather my senses and spend time talking to a tree. happy days. Oh and I have a flying frog in my living room called Albert. 

 

 My frog who goes by the name of Albert

Albert Einstein : ( 14/3/1879 -18/4/55) A powerful voice of social conscience and humanity that still resonates.

 

The legendary theoretical physicist, author, philosopher, moral leader Albert Einstein   was born at Ulm, Wuerttemberg, Germany, on March 14, 1879  and is now regarded  as the most influential physicist of the 20^th century, who  made such great contributions to the scientific world, for which  he received the 1921 Noble Prize in Physics for his services to Theoretical Physics. 

In letters, and articles, Einstein wrote that the welfare of humanity as a whole must take precedence over the goals of individual nations, and that we cannot wait until leaders give up their preparations for war. Civil society, and especially public figures, must take the lead. He asked how decent and self-respecting people can wage war, knowing how many innocent people will be killed. Throughout his life he used his professional fame to promote his  strong voice of social conscience,including crticism (while living in Germany) of Germany's role in World War I.Because of his fame, Einstein was asked to make several speeches at the Reichstag. and in all these speeches he condemned violence and nationalism, urging that these be replaced by and international cooperation and law under an effective international authority.
Einstein believed that the production of armaments is damaging, not only economically, but also spiritually. In 1930 he signed a manifesto for world disarmament sponsored by the Womans International League for Peace and Freedom. In December of the same year, he made his famous statement in New York that if two percent of those called for military service were to refuse to fight, governments would become powerless, since they could not imprison that many people. He also argued strongly against compulsory military service and urged that conscientious objectors should be protected by the international community. He argued that peace, freedom of individuals, and security of societies could only be achieved through disarmament, the alternative being “slavery of the individual and annihilation of civilization”. He also lent his voice in support of pacifism, anti-militarism,and was also a socialist  who believed that a socialist planned economy was the only way to eliminate the inequalities of capitalism, he also strongly opposed Adolf Hitler  His deep disapproval of racism  and hate having been born from suffering and because of his Jewish identity.
He also condemned  America's use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,  stood against Joseph McCarthy-era restraints on freedom of speech, in June, 1953, he wrote a letter to a school teacher in which he characterized certain tactics of a Congressional investigating committee as "a kind of inquisition" that "violates the spirit of the Constitution," and advised the "minority of intellectuals" to refuse to testify on the ground that "it is shameful for a blameless citizen to submit to such an inquisition." Faced with this evil, he said, he could "see only the revolutionary way of non-cooperation in the sense of Gandhi's." he also  had a strong disapproval of racism having suffered from it because of his Jewish identity.. Scientific expertise was of no value in most of these cases, yet Einstein's words were taken seriously and reached a large audience.
In letters, and articles, Einstein wrote that the welfare of humanity as a whole must take precedence over the goals of individual nations, and that we cannot wait until leaders give up their preparations for war. Civil society, and especially public figures, must take the lead. He asked how decent and self-respecting people can wage war, knowing how many innocent people will be killed.
For his efforts, he was threatened with assassination several times, was in danger of deportation from the United States, and accumulated a huge FBI file. He even was denied security clearance to work on the WWII atomic bomb project. Einstein's courage in his public activities ran on a track parallel to the boldness of his scientific work.Throughout the remainder of his life, in addition to his scientific work, Einstein worked tirelessly for peace, international understanding and nuclear disarmament. His last public act, only a few days before his death  on 4th of April 1955, was to sign the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, warning humankind of the catastrophic consequences that would follow from a war with nuclear weapons. Since his death  he is know considered one of the outstanding thinkers of his generation, a symbol of the human spirit and its highest aspirations, a fighter for social justice and human fraternity, a powerful voice of peace that still resonates. .
Here are a  few valuable life lessons that Einstein said :-

1. Follow Your Curiosity -
“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”

2. Perseverance is Priceless -
“It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

3. Focus on the Present -
“Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.”

4. The Imagination is Powerful -
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions. Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

5. Make Mistakes -
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

6. Live in the Moment -
“I never think of the future – it comes soon enough.”

7. Create Value -
“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”

8. Don’t be repetitive -
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

9. Knowledge Comes From Experience -
“Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience.”

10. Learn the Rules and Then Play Better -
“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”
 
11. Devote Your Life to a Cause -
 “Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.”

12  Serve the World  – 
“The high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule. The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.”

13. Question Authority - 
" Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth."

14. Imagination is more important than knowledge -
 “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions. Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
 

 15. Never ever stop learning  – 
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.

16. We are all one -
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

17. Never stop Questioning-

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

" People like you and I, though mortal of course, like everyone else, do not grow old no matter how long we live. What I mean is that we never cease to stand like curious children before the great Mystery into which we were born."

18. Let nature be your teacher -  
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”

19. There are no limits except those we impose on ourselves -  

“Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.”
“A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?”

20.  Dare to be your true self -  
“Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.”

 At the end of the day, we will all experience successes and failures.So strive, fail, succeed and smile and remember, there is always room for optimism and  another world is possible. Thank you Albert Einstein for your valuable words.

MOVING ON : A Cut Up Experiment

                                 The River Teifi

It was fun, oh how we laughed, the driftwood floating,chasing moss, dreaming of schemes,counting the hours, unpadlocking the gates, half-in. half-out, a way to blue through a tunnel of zen.
Paradoxes unfurl  as we wade through time. Alcohol is an anaesthetic it numbs the pain of silence.It lifts the waking dead. Sometimes  things need to be  rearranged otherwise we keep moving round in circles with details left  pencilled in the margins. Last night, in the sorting room  of ideas , I broke out, instead  of  running backwards,  honesty wandered, memory upturned, weight of the west met east,where there is no home, moved forwards towards another summer ending.
Outside in , outside out, released some promises , regrets rising onwards to a faraway place. The secret is surprise, love is always  here, in the delusions of heaven,  fragile  heartbeats keep beating, constantly from deep within, and fights a way through the dark inside, screams aloud with lungs open wide, the miracle of life is what you give or take, we are all made in this world to live in, until time runs out, blows away circumstances, each different position  reveals, gaining inspiration as days go  by, growing  in progression. From ancient springs we gather, waiting for the dust to settle, the weekends will always laugh in secret release their streams of tears.
Acceptance is not surrender ,old ghost will always return, every day will wear out, sinking into dark corners to lick its wounds, glistening, silver with dew  in the early sunlight, we can all remember, from Gaza to Allepo, Calais to the streets of London , nothing should be taken for granted, the thunder crashes all around, the winds forever will cast a ghostly mourn, the fury of storms will play out, so be peaceful,  with no menace now, the dawn chorus will  keep welcoming for all to hear, towards a new beginning- another day.we still have a long way to go, off the point,a little reckless.

Music is a moral Law - Plato

I love music because it's good for me. It lifts my darkness and depression. It reminds me of others and is a source of nourishment and inspiration. When life is terrible, It is mostly cathartic, and picks me up , though what  some  people do to music can be bad for your soul,  but generally music itself is good and does not require moderation. I have deep respect for it. It is good for weekdays, the weekend, holidays, Sundays, cloudy days, sunny days, fast days, slow days, work or play, alone or in the company of friends, it is integral to the human experience , mostly therapeutic,that over the years has released hours of pleasure and comfort , boosting mood, happiness, and reducing anxiety.A powerful tool that has much healing capacity. Indeed I am looking forward to enjoying some live music this weekend, at  two local music venues here in Cardigan, tonight  the  wonderful psychedelica of  Sendelica and Here and Now down the Cellar Bar, and  tomorrow the folk music of Ida Wenøe and Gareth Bonello (The Gentle Good)   down the small world theatre, come and join me come say hello.

“Music is a moral law.
It gives soul to the universe,
wings to the mind,
flight to the imagination,
a charm to sadness,
gaiety and life to everything.
It is the essence of order
and lends to all that is good
and just and beautiful.”

-plato

Some Respite (After visiting Druidstone Inn, Pembrokeshire.)

The world, was filling me with sadness

In its woods' I could only find darkness
But deep within  a simple hope still resided
And after a friend took me to  a special place
With two ales and the glance at sea
Inspiration quietly returned
At home, scattered  more seeds for the bees
After  grateful, friendly encouragement,
Turned  Linton Kwesi Johnson up loud
On the edge of life, energy returned
Between one thing and another
Dubs deepness delivered passion
Soothing heartbeat and inner soul
Allowed me not to completely surrender
Listening to riddim allowed  me to smile
Beyond some bitterness
And oppressive forces
Nourishment was delivered
I Inhaled some magic
Released dancing feet  again
From moments of  hesitation
Respite was released
Like forces of victory
Spirits rised.

Edward Thomas (2/3/1878 - 9/4/17) - A Celebration of this Anglo Welsh Poet a Century after his Death.

This day marks the 100th anniversary of the death of 39 year old Anglo Welsh poet Edward Thomas at the Battle of Arras, who fell on what was then Easter Monday. He left a body of largely unpublished work that has since earned him a place as  one of Britain's greatest poets. He has since  become one of the most widely read English language poets of the 20th century.Nearly all of his poems were written in the three years between 1914 and his death in 1917. Sixteen of the 60-odd poems that later made up his collected works were produced in an incredible burst of creativity in just 20 days in January 1915.
Born in London to Welsh parents in 1878,his father, Philip Henry Thomas, was a Welsh speaker from Tredegar. Thomas made frequent trips back to Swansea and the Carmarthenshire areas of south Wales to stay with relatives. He had strong friendships with Welsh-language poets  and later attended Lincoln College, Oxford from 1897 to 1900, where he was tutored by Owen M Edwards, one of the most significant figures in nonconformist Welsh culture.
Edwards awakened Thomas’s sense of Welsh national identity, and after graduating he asked his former tutor “to suggest any kind of work … to help you and the Welsh cause”. Three years earlier, Edwards had called for “a literature that will be Engish in language and Welsh in spirit." and it seems that Thomas took up his challenge, declaring that: “in English I might do something by writing of Wales”.
Though he wrote in the English language; and almost  all of his poems were written about the English countryside, but his odes to melancholy, and longing seem to have a Welsh source. Throughout his short life he was inordinately proud of his Welsh heritage, and because of this it led him to doubt whether he could truly be "English". He felt that living in England
was “like a homesickness, but stronger”, and the closest he could feel to belonging was by spending time in nature: “I was home: one nationality/ We had, I and the birds that sang,/ One memory” (Home [3] 4-6)..The scenery of Wales and the legends of the country affected Thomas deeply. He wrote about them in various letters and in prose books such as Beautiful Wales and in his sole attempt at fiction, The Happy Go-Lucky Morgans. He also lamented the lack of a widely circulated collection of Welsh folk tales, something that he himself put right in 1911 when he published Celtic Stories an anthology of Welsh and Irish folk stories..He would often sing to his children and to writer friends such as Eleanor Farjeon, old Welsh folk songs and was deeply conscious of the cadences of Welsh words. As he wrote:

"Make me content
With some sweetness
From Wales
Whose nightingales
Have no wings."

After marrying Helen Noble he found work writing travel books and critical reviews. His need to support his young family and wife resulting in him sacrificing creative writing for this hack work.Thomas took the Welsh connection a stage further by naming his children Mervyn, Myfanwy and Bronwen. Thomas had a troubled life however. A tormented soul with feelings of unfulfillment and self loathing convinced that he was a failure in both his marriage and career. Thomas was prone to periods of deep depression and anxiety and flirted with suicide, aggravated by his repressed creativity and creative frustration. Because of his self pitying he could also be very cruel to his ever loving wife . ' Your sympathy and your love for me are both hateful to me , but for God's sake don't  stand there , pale and suffering.' Thomas evidently felt there was some flaw in his personality that meant he was unable to respond to people as others did. “I don’t and can’t love and haven’t done for something near 20 years,” he told the haplessly doting Helen. When not entrapped by his more melancholic bitter moods he was more than capable of showing a more gentle and caring side, extended walks through the English countryside not only provided him with material for his writing but also represented freedom from his inner demons.
Through his work as a critic he became a champion of the American poet Robert Frost and they became friends. It was Frost who seeing his nature inspired prose and the English countryside, suggested to Thomas that he turn his hand to writing poetry. This unleashed a torrent of words , which at the same time lifted his depression enabling him to  write some of the most subtle and compelling words of the 20th Century. He had thought of moving to America with is family to devote himself to writing poetry, but alas , it was not to be, instead on July 15, 1915 after hiding his diabetes which would have led to his rejection, he was commissioned into the Royal Artillery and posted to France, just as his work was getting recognition and appearing in literary journals .He wrote a series of  haunting poems during his training. All though he is often referred to as a war poet , few of his  poems actually deal with his war experiences.Nevertheless, arguably the war overshadows all of his poetry, even when he is  focusing on an aspect of  nature, such as a bird or a tree. His sense of the fragility of nature, as well as its beauty, is in a sense intensified by the knowledge of the war and exacerbated by a growing knowledge of his own fragility and mortality. I think that acknowledgement of the worst is something that can  still resonate deeply with us today
He was killed after he had left his dugout to fill his pipe, a shell passed so close that the rush of air stopped his heart , and he fell to the ground not a mark on his body.He left the world his poems which  are informed by a distinctly modern vision of doubt, alienation, and human limitation.deep emotion. Beautiful poems about nature but also revealing his willingness to grapple with difficulty and uncertainty, revealing his sensitivity , and bleak honesty,still as poignant, powerful and moving as when they were first written.His great friend Robert Frost wrote " his poetry is so very brave, so unconsciously brave.' Ted Hughes once described this great poet as 'the father of us all.' His work will  always be cherished by me. The following is a selection of some of his fine poems.

Like the touch of Rain - Edward Thomas

Like the touch of rain she was
On a man's flesh and hair and eyes
When the joy of walking thus
Has taken him by surprise:

With the love of the storm he burns,
He sings, he laughs, well I know how,
But forgets when he returns
As I shall not forget her 'Go now'.

Those two words shut a door
Between me and the blessed rain
That was never shut before
And will not open again.

How at Once - Edward Thomas

How at once should I know,
When stretched in the harvest blue
I saw the swift's black bow,
That I would not have that view
Another day
Until next May
Again it is due?

The same year after year --
But with the swift alone.
With other things I but fear
That they will be over and done
Suddenly
And I only see
Them to know them gone.

Beauty - Edward Thomas

 WHAT does it mean? Tired, angry, and ill at ease,
No man, woman, or child alive could please
Me now. And yet I almost dare to laugh
Because I sit and frame an epitaph-
'Here lies all that no one loved of him
And that loved no one.' Then in a trice that whim
Has wearied. But, though I am like a river
At fall of evening when it seems that never
Has the sun lighted it or warmed it, while
Cross breezes cut the surface to a file,
This heart, some fraction of me, happily
Floats through a window even now to a tree
Down in the misting, dim-lit, quiet vale;
Not like a pewit that returns to wail
For something it has lost, but like a dove
That slants unanswering to its home and love.
There I find my rest, and through the dusk air
Flies what yet lives in me. Beauty is there

The Sorrow of True Love - Edward Thomas

The sorrow of true love is a great sorrow
And true love parting blackens a bright morrow:
Yet almost they equal joys, since their despair
Is but hope blinded by its tears, and clear
Above the storm the heavens wait to be seen.
But greater sorrow from less love has been
That can mistake lack of despair for hope
And knows not tempest and the perfect scope
Of summer, but a frozen drizzle perpetual
Of drops that from remorse and pity fall
And cannot ever shine in the sun or thaw,
Removed eternally from the sun's law.

The Owl - Edward Thomas

Downhill I came, hungry, and yet not starved;

Cold, yet had heat within me that was proof

Against the North wind; tired, yet so that rest

Had seemed the sweetest thing under a roof.

Then at the inn I had food, fire, and rest,

Knowing how hungry, cold, and tired was I.

All of the night was quite barred out except

An owl's cry, a most melancholy cry

Shaken out long and clear upon the hill,

No merry note, nor cause of merriment,

But one telling me plain what I escaped

And others could not, that night, as in I went.

And salted was my food, and my repose,

Salted and sobered, too, by the bird's voice

Speaking for all who lay under the stars,

Soldiers and poor, unable to rejoice.

Words - Edward Thomas

Out of us all
That make rhymes
Will you choose
Sometimes -
As the winds use
A crack in a wall
Or a drain,
Their joy or their pain
To whistle through -
Choose me,
You English words?

I know you:
You are light as dreams,
Tough as oak,
Precious as gold,
As poppies and corn,
Or an old cloak:
Sweet as our birds
To the ear,
As the burnet rose
In the heat
Of Midsummer:
Strange as the races
Of dead and unborn:
Strange and sweet
Equally,
And familiar,
To the eye,
As the dearest faces
That a man knows,
And as lost homes are:
But though older far
Than oldest yew, -
As our hills are, old, -
Worn new
Again and again:
Young as our streams
After rain:
And as dear
As the earth which you prove
That we love.

Make me content
With some sweetness
From Wales
Whose nightingales
Have no wings, -
From Wiltshire and Kent
And Herefordshire, -
And the villages there, -
From the names, and the things
No less.
Let me sometimes dance
With you,
Or climb
Or stand perchance
In ecstasy,
Fixed and free
In a rhyme,
As poets do.                         

Out in the Dark - Edward Thomas

Out in the dark over the snow
The fallow fawns invisible go
With the fallow doe;
And the winds blow
Fast as the stars are slow.

Stealthily the dark haunts round
And, when a lamp goes, without sound
At a swifter bound
Than the swiftest hound,
Arrives, and all else is drowned;

And star and I and wind and deer
Are in the dark together, -- near,
Yet far, -- and fear
Drums on my ear
In that sage company drear.

How weak and little is the light,
All the universe of sight,
Love and delight,
Before the might,
If you love it not, of night.

In Memorium ( Easter  1915)  - Edward Thomas

The flowers left thick at nightfall in the wood

This Eastertide call into mind the men,

Now far from home, who, with their sweethearts, should

Have gathered them and will do never again.

Further Reading :-

 Edward Thomas: Collected Poems (Faber & Faber, 2004.

Now All  Roads lead to France : The Last Years of Edward Thomas   - Mathew Hollis

Edward Thomas : From Adlestrop to Arras - Jean Moorcraft Wlison , Bloomsbury,

2015   

                  

Deir Yassin massacre remembered 69 years later .

Today the Palestinian people mark the time on April 9, 1948 when Commanders of  the Ergun (headed by future Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin,) and the Stern Gang attacked in the early hours of the morning Deir Yassin, a village at the western entrance of Jerusalem containing 750 Palestinian residents. By the time  the villagers realized the intensity of the terrorist attack, hundreds were already dead, the Zionist militia  murdered over 250 - 360 Palestinian villagers in cold blood wounding  many others. Many of the bodies were tossed  in the village well,  and 159 captured women and children  were paraded  through the Jewish sectors of Jerusalem.
What happened in Deir Yassin prepared the ground for the ethnic cleansing of 70% of the Palestinian people. The same ethnic cleansing that occurred then is unfortunately going on today. In 1948 they used direct massacres, but today they use airstrikes in Gaza and shoot innocent young Palestinians in the West Bank.
Deir Yassin was not an isolated incident; such a heartbreaking tragedy was flagrantly carried out in conjunction with “Plan Dalet.” Based on a policy of ethnic cleansing and terror, “Plan Dalet” was implemented by the Haganah to force Palestinians to flee their homes and to destroy their villages with the deliberate intent of establishing the State of Israel on Palestinian soil.
For Palestinians and their supporters, the massacre is a symbol. that marks  their deep sense  of dispossession.It is remembered as the pivotal onset of the 1948 Nabka. Deir Yassin is the "other shoe that fell," sparking over 750,000 to flee from their homes, 80 percent of the population at that time, from their homes so that Israel, a colonialist settler state, could be created on their land.Over two million scattered in a far-flung diaspora today, in what remains at the heart of the Israel/Palestine conflict.
The village  lay outside of the area assigned by the United Nations to the 'Jewish State'. It had a peaceful reputation, the Deir Yassin villagers had signed a non aggression pact with the leaders of the adjacent Jewish Quarter, Giv'at Shaul and had even refused military personnel from the Arab Liberation Army from using the village as a base.An Israeli psychiatric hospital now lies on the ruins of Deir Yassin, the remainder of which was bulldozed in the 1980s to make way for new settlements  and incorporated as a neighbourhood of Jerusalem. These streets shamefully carry the names of the Irgun militiamen who carried out the massacre.
Sixty nine years later the Deir Yassin massacre still remains an important reminder of Israel’s systematic measures of displacement, destruction, dispossession, and dehumanization.In keeping with Simon Wiesenthal's observation that "Hope lives when people remember," the suffering of the Jews has been rightly acknowledged and memorialised. But there are few memorials for Palestinians who died in 1948 and since. Their history, in which the massacre at Deir Yassin is a very significant event, has been largely buried and forgotten. And yet, like the descendants of the victims in Armenia (1915-17), in the Soviet Union (1929-53), in Nazi Germany (1933-45), in China (1949-52, 1957-60, and 1966-76), and in Cambodia (1975-79), the descendants of Palestinians want the world to remember what they suffered, what they lost and why they died. The calculated efforts by Israel to completely erase the history, narrative and physical presence of the Palestinian people will not be simply ignored or forgotten. It also serves to ask ourselves the question what  turns a victim into an abuser,a bully that keeps blaming its victims? And over the years we've been taught many things, that invasion was not invasion, occupation was not occupation, apartheid was not apartheid,ethnic cleansing was not ethnic cleansing,and that land theft was not land theft and Palestine was not Palestine.
But many years later the Palestinian peoples collective voice can still be heard from the refugee camps of Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, to the towns of the West Bank and Gaza, to the ghettos inside the Israeli green line. This determination and resilience has earned them respect and support of an increasing number of people around the world. Despite the humiliation and pain of their  occupation, you can't kill their  indomitable spirit and struggle.

Phil Monsour featuring Rafeef Ziadah - Ghosts of Deir Yassin

The writing on the hands are the names of the original villages in Palestine that these people were ethnically cleansed

Ghosts of Deir Yassin
They pretend that it’s forgotten
But somewhere small flowers grow
On the weathered stones of destroyed homes
Somewhere the light’s still in the window
You see that we are rising our day is surely coming
No longer in the shadows
Of the ghosts of Deir Yassin
They change the names on the signs
But it’s in our hearts these words are written
Of the children who don’t know their homes
They will walk the streets from which they are forbidden
You see that we are rising our day is surely coming
No longer in the shadows
Of the ghosts of Deir Yassin

After an echo

                                         
The following poem dedicated to the memory of my beloved Jane Elizabeth Husband ( 9/5/ 60 - 8/1/17)  today marks 3 months since her passing.

After an echo

Last night, I heard an owl hooting 
from not that far away, 
releasing its comforting call 
I sipped calmly from a glass, 
before the time of sleep beckoned me
to paddle on the waves of dream, 
in the names of yesterday
and the chords of tomorrow,
in undulating scrawls, put pen to paper 
life is a memory, I thought, of days gone past,
songs in the sunshine,dances in the rain 
the smell of alcohol and smouldering devotion,
converging through darkness in sweet seduction
constructing sentences that flowed with wine.

But I don't believe in miracles any more 
because luck seems to run out all the time, 
yet outside the moonlight guided
and as thoughts got crowded and perplexed,
released some sense of power
carried me drifting, along meandering streams, 
swimming again with lullabies
and untethered emotions,
against the currents, thought of sunrise
as head went dizzy, I plunged under, closed my eyes,
let visions call that took me again, to a place of safety. 

Rejoicing in old image of the past, the magic released
allowed me to catch breathe, to look up to the the sky, 
and sigh as the beauty of an echo called 
sailing on another horizon, but still by my side, 
filled my soul with gladness, chased away the sadness
made my face glow, my heart to beat,
allowed me to listen once more
to the tranquillity of a deep blue sea,
the trees blowing gently in the breeze and clouds
faraway spirit, floating freely across a satin sky, 
in the distance there is a rainbow
a prism of colour, ever so wonderful,
as I row on into the world shining bright
with enough comfort and grace left to bestow.

Now is the time for diplomacy and restraint, not the time to be escalating the War in Syria.

Last Tuesday, images  of scores of Syrians whose bodies had been  ravaged by a chemical attack in the  Khan Shaykun area of Idlib, naturally horrified the world.Around 60 people were reported dead, many of whom were children and there were hundreds of further casualties. The use of weapons like this is obviously unacceptable to any right minded person. If  this was carried out by the Assad's  government, it would be an act of  brazen  impunity, coming during a major international meeting in Brussels where officials are debating whether the European Union and other countries will contribute billions of dollars for reconstructing Syria if it is presided over by a government run by Mr. Assad.
But while  fingers  pointed this way and that with who to blame for the use of chemical weapons, no one is absolutely certain, ( Both Syria and Russia vehemently deny that the Syrian military used chemical weapons, maintaining that the casualties were caused by gases released after an al-Qaeda-affiliated ammunitions depot was hit by conventional munitions in a government air raid. ) however this tragedy made people of  conscience respond with sadness and anger, yet with  little time for reflection or consultation with either Congress or the international community. the United States Government chose the way of war in response. Donald Trump  unilaterally ordered airstrikes on April 6, sending  59 Tomahawk cruise missiles into a Syrian government airbase which have reportedly killed nine civilians, including  four children to date. I agree with the President that " no child  of God should ever suffer such horror.” I disagree that the way to prevent  such horror is add more violence to violence and remember that only a couple of months ago he clearly demonstrated how much he cared about the plight of Syrian children when he attempted to introduce a totally unconstitutional ban on Syrian refugee children travelling to America, and now he's crying crocodile tears about their plight in order to justify lobbing even more bombs into Syria. He .had also ordered previously an airstrike on a mosque in Al-Jineh Syria March 16, killing 46 civilians.
The logic that  military strikes, like these,will deter and quell  the aggression taking place in Syria is a deeply flawed one. The situation in Syria is a deeply tragic one, a conflict which has been raging now for  six years, in what began as a citizen uprising in the spirit of the Arab Spring, and then  morphed into a complex proxy war involving foreign fighters, multiple regional powers, ISIS, Al Quada and Russia, which has resulted  in so much devastation, chaos and harm.According to United Nations reports, over 400,000 persons  have died due  to the conflict and millions have become displaced or fled Syria.Too many reports of horrors to mention. The U.S airstrikes though without any recourse to international law, without a proper investigation into what actually happened and in  violation  of the Chemical Weapons Convention,  according to the United Nations  simply adds fuel to the fire and any further unilateral action will only  escalate an already dire situation and inflame the terrible war that has already caused untold misery for the people of Syria country,threatening to widen the war even further.The long-term prospects for peace in Syria remain as grim as ever. While a ceasefire has technically been in place across Syria since the end of December between the moderate opposition and the government, both sides have continued to launch attacks, and a fifth round of peace talks in Geneva ended at an impasse at the end of last month.Tensions with Russia are already rising  as US says Assad must abide by deal not to use chemical weapons but fails to outline objectives Whatever happens next, now is the time for a level of diplomacy and to insist on a coordinated and global humanitarian  aid, food, shelter, medical care and assistance for refugees and displaced persons and search for avenues to end this conflict peacefully, rather than  rash decisions that could escalate this already tragic situation.
The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has also urged restraint to avoid any escalation of the situation in Syria, in the wake of the U.S. airstrikes, he: “I continue to follow the situation in Syria closely and with grave concern.“Mindful of the risk of escalation, I appeal for restraint to avoid any acts that could deepen the suffering of the Syrian people.“These events underscore my belief that there is no other way to solve the conflict than through a political solution”, Guterres said in a statement.The UN chief called on the parties to urgently renew their commitment to making progress in the Geneva intra-Syrian talks.“The Security Council has the primary responsibility for international peace and security”, Mr. Feltman  he added. He also urged the 15-member body to unite and exercise that responsibility to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons in Khan Shaykun.“Security Council resolution 2254 (2015) and the 2012 Geneva Communiqué remain the foundation of, and contain the core principles for, United Nations mediation efforts and ultimately a solution in this regard”, he said.
I do not support either Assad, Trump, Russia, or  ISIS, and  have been in unsettled by the amount of human rights abuses that have taken place across Syria, but I simply do not want to  hear of more death, bombs or destruction.The whole country is destroyed , there is no side to take, there is simply no winner. Civilians are paying the price in this deadly game of thrones. We must continue to show mercy on the people of Syria. We can't ignore there suffering  but we must also  concentrate on the world armourers and dealers who keep peddling and spreading their deadly trade, these profiteers of pain, misery, suffering, chaos and destruction,welcomed by all the leaders of the so called free world. Also the military industrial complex has to be fed with wars that never end , remember war is monstrous, its very nature is one of tragedy and suffering, oh  please , when will this perpetual madness cease.  

Bob Dylan - Masters of War - Lyrics

The Work Capability Assessment

The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) which was introduced in 2008 is the primary assessment for Employment and Support Allowance, the main social security payment for ill and disabled people. In the above documentary advocates, lawyers and claimants outline the fundamental problems with the (WCA), and the adverse effects it has on claimants. They show how the WCA fails the disabled and fails on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) terms; it can worsen people’s health and does not help them return to work. The WCA is carried out by private companies (initially Atos now Maximus). Although some assessments can be carried out smoothly and professionally, others are in buildings that do not have disabled access, require people in pain to sit for hours on hard chairs, and are carried out by cold or even cruel assessors.
The film director Ken Loach  made a film "I Daniel Blake'  to show the harsh reality of applying for benefits .This month  the government plans to cut the new Employment Support Allowance (ESA) for ill or disabled claimants who are judged to be able to work in the future.The allowance will be reduced by a third to £73.10 per week, the same as Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) and is designed to give an incentive to disabled people to find work.
Ken Loach says the most vulnerable are being targeted by the new 'benefit reform'.His film "I Daniel Blake' followed two benefits claimants plunged into poverty.The Department of Work and Pensions says, "Our welfare reforms are increasing the support and incentives for people who move into work, while keeping an important safety net in place for those who need it." yet many people who rely on it, in their time of need find it degrading and cruel, and reducing disabled and vulnerable peoples incomes even further is only going to make life harder.
Legal advocates say the assessment system for benefits is getting to many decisions wrong, forcing thousands of claimants to go to court.More than 1,600 complaints have been made against nurses carrying out fit-for-work assessments in the last five years.Read more at http://thirdforcenews.org.uk/tfn-news/new-information-reveals-huge-number-of-complaints-against-pip-fit-for-work
These crude tests have caused horrifying suffering and led to homelessness, ill health , despair and tragically even suicides as people with serious health conditions are found fit for work and left without enough money to eat or keep the heating. There is also evidence that these tests have caused relapses in  claimants who also happen to be patients with serious mental health conditions. People witl long term mental health issues get very distressed about being assessed, because they don’t feel they are being listened to in their interviews or treated as  even as human, just as another tick on a box.There are also cases  of claimants who can barely leave their homes due to anxiety, depression, PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] or obsessive compulsive disorder being deemed fit for work and therefore having their benefits cut or removed, as a result there have been many reported cases of people relapsing as a consequence of getting distressed
Debbie Abrahams, the Shadow Work and Pensions Minister says 'it's a punitive system designed to get people off benefits, even if it has the effect of making people feel they have no choice but to take their own life'.The Work Capability Assessment is totally inhumane for people with invisible, but well documented mental health issues, especially for people with a factual  history recognised by their Consultants and General Practitioners.
It’s important to acknowledge that there are many people  who simply cannot work, and to force them through degrading assessments is simply appalling.I personally live in a state of fear and anxiety , just waiting to see if a brown  letter will  arrive, ordering me for re-asseesment. It is of many peoples opinion that  the Work Capability Assessment (WCA), no matter how much it may have been rejigged and  re-designed, is deeply flawed and  is simply not fit for purpose, and that no-one has any faith in it because of the appalling damage already inflicted on so many vulnerable claimants across the land. Many also  believe it needs to be scrapped, but the Tory's with no soul would never agree to this, and will probably as I write be thinking up more draconian measures, in which to inflict their brand of conscious cruelty.
The people who made the above video would like to thank everyone who their time to talk about the WCA. Some people have requested anonymity, therefore they have either used their voice only or got actors to record what they said (a lot of claimants are scared of the DWP).

(Music:http://www.bensound.com/ )

Here is a link to Disabled People Against Cuts Website ( a very valuable resource ):-

http://dpac.uk.net/ 

This post is dedicated to all those who are suffering , have suffered and those who have died whilst going through this inhumane process.