Thursday, April 5, 2018

Rashid Pelpuo writes


Why the wars?

The engines of war
A crafty handicraft of man
Tears the world 
Pain turned familiar misery 
Why the wars?
Which mercies of the Lord make meaning 
Without man’s own mercies
The tanks keep rolling 
Breaking bones of escaping  men
A crying child begs for air to breathe 
Bewildered by an unbelievable reality
Bodies strewn like fish rejected by the sea
Some panting to say a last word
Why these wars?
Men turn beast
Roaming the world
In deadly arms
A cry pierces through the air
In silent nemeses  

To Lift the fallen…
Men in naked trot
Locked out of the free world
Yearning a piece of peace

To hurt the defeated is no gain
To lift the fallen
Is true bravery

But the powers keep the course
Pounding home the bombs
Hurting a sorry soul

The flying stars crisscrossing the sky
Are not gentle comets
Nor on cursory errands

They are bombs on mission
To take another life
In the silence of the dawn

They fly in to grow more widows
To breed more orphans 
To  bathe more souls with tears

Lift the fallen from the mud
Let's brave the winds
To cure our haughty greed 
 Image result for warfare paintings
 Happiness is a Warm Gun --  John Elkerr

1 comment:

  1. Beatles producer George Martin showed John Lennon a gun magazine that had the words "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" on the cover (referring to having just shot something), a play on the popular 1962 book "Happiness is a warm puppy" by cartoonist Charles Schultz. Lennon used the phrase as the title for a mashup of 3 songs which "seemed to run through all the different kinds of rock music." Lennon called it a miniature "history of rock and roll." Lennon described the 3 sections as "the dirty old man ... the junkie ... and the gunman." Although the Beatles were beginning to break up artistically, in part due to the arrival of Yoko Ono in Lennon's life -- and he later admitted that the imagery was related to their sexuality -- the band closely collaborated on recording the song, which both Paul McCartney and George Harrison reported as their favorite track on "The Beatles" album. It took them 70 takes to record, between 23-26 September 1968.

    She's not a girl who misses much
    Do do do do do do, oh yeah
    She's well-acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand
    Like a lizard on a window pane
    The man in the crowd with the multicoloured mirrors
    On his hobnail boots
    Lying with his eyes while his hands are busy
    Working overtime
    A soap impression of his wife which he ate
    And donated to the National Trust

    I need a fix because I'm going down
    Down to the bits that I left uptown
    I need a fix because I'm going down

    Mother Superior jumped the gun
    Mother Superior jumped the gun
    Mother Superior jumped the gun
    Mother Superior jumped the gun
    Mother Superior jumped the gun
    Mother Superior jumped the gun

    Happiness is a warm gun
    Happiness bang, bang, shoot, shoot
    Happiness is a warm gun, mama
    Happiness bang, bang, shoot, shoot
    When I hold you in my arms oo-oo oh yeah
    And I feel my finger on your trigger oo-oo oh yeah
    I know nobody can do me no harm oo-oo oh yeah

    Because happiness is a warm gun, mama
    Happiness bang, bang, shoot, shoot
    Happiness is a warm gun, yes it is
    Happiness bang, bang, shoot, shoot
    Happiness is a warm, yes it is, gun
    Happiness bang, bang, shoot, shoot
    Well, don't you know that happiness is a warm gun, mama? Happiness is a warm gun, yeah

    The song was banned by the British Broadcasting Company.

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