My 94th Birthday amid Rubble and Precious Life

POETRY FORMAT, 18 Nov 2024

Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service

My poem on navigating the narrowing channel between personal happiness and public gloom.

I. Demons Prowling

For these last years I felt
It was strange to be still alive
When so many around me were dead
Stranger still to stay young within
To receive and give love
While the planet burns
And untamed demons prowl
Plunging the world into total darkness
It seems even
The night sky shares the gloom of earth
Even the stars retreat as if on strike
Against demon stalkers of the night
Prowling about their mansions of deceit
Trampling upon their manicured gardens
Hatefully howling in the darkness
Until the only safe comfort zones
Were hidden distant in  the galaxy

II. Precious Living

Yet despite the carnage
Roses bloom guarded by thorns
Gardenias retain their addictive aroma
A glorious bestowal of nature’s blessings
And yet we complain that it is not enough
Indulging our pure greed always wanting more
Yet our private and inner life eludes the grasp
Of beasts of prey and demons of the night
The joys of loving and being loved never age
Rather grow old together gathering wisdom
Year by year accepting and affirming what remains
What is lost as long as your love and presence
Resists abandonment, partners to the end
As long as the radiance of love infuses our lives
As long as the lives and legacies of our children
As long as this sturdy light of my life stays bright
Bringing tears of delight of love’s deepest roots
Through time and emotional memories
Good and bad playful ironic serious
That long we know we are still alive
To what always matters most up close

III. Jackal Dominion

Always darkness and light merge
At dawn and dusk never diverge
Almost as certain as death itself
Birds and cats know more than we
About the movements of earth and sky
Those blessed companions, therapists
Of the soul, minions of the heart
Until now spared from vengeful jackals
In control now our public destiny
Each day the shrouded bodies of babies
Subverts our sacred longing for serenity
With shrieks of horror by those left alive
While those others the jackals
Dare speak to us with gruesome clarity
Of unabashed evil means and ends
Yet they are there and we are here
For us living fearfully at a distance
Nothing worse is yet happening to me
Than nightly disturbances of sleep
But tomorrow a servant of the jackals
May knock hard on our door bringing
The news that that there is no more there

IV. Cry Freedom!

When slaves break their chains
And patriots of the earth become
Warriors gardeners poets engaging
In a fight worth winning for the sake
Of those we love and learn from
So long as the trusted soul breathes its light
While the body is busy with the work of dying
Life remains a precious gift of the god.

**************************************

Santa Barbara, California

November 13, 2024

__________________________________________

Prof. Richard Falk is a member of the TRANSCEND Network, Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, Chair of Global Law, Faculty of Law, at Queen Mary University London, Research Associate the Orfalea Center of Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Fellow of the Tellus Institute. He directed the project on Global Climate Change, Human Security, and Democracy at UCSB and formerly served as director the North American group in the World Order Models Project. Between 2008 and 2014, Falk served as UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Occupied Palestine. His book, (Re)Imagining Humane Global Governance (2014), proposes a value-oriented assessment of world order and future trends. His most recent books are Power Shift (2016); Revisiting the Vietnam War (2017); On Nuclear Weapons: Denuclearization, Demilitarization and Disarmament (2019); and On Public Imagination: A Political & Ethical Imperative, ed. with Victor Faessel & Michael Curtin (2019). He is the author or coauthor of other books, including Religion and Humane Global Governance (2001), Explorations at the Edge of Time (1993), Revolutionaries and Functionaries (1988), The Promise of World Order (1988), Indefensible Weapons (with Robert Jay Lifton, 1983), A Study of Future Worlds (1975), and This Endangered Planet (1972). His memoir, Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim was published in March 2021 and received an award from Global Policy Institute at Loyala Marymount University as ‘the best book of 2021.’ He has been nominated frequently for the Nobel Peace Prize since 2009.

Go to Original – richardfalk.org

Share this article: email mastodon facebook 🔗 copy link

DISCLAIMER: The statements, views and opinions expressed in pieces republished here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of TMS. In accordance with title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. TMS has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is TMS endorsed or sponsored by the originator. “GO TO ORIGINAL” links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the “GO TO ORIGINAL” links. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

There are no comments so far.