We remember with sadness the passing of Geoff, our friend and a founding member of Hightown Writers' Workshop, who passed away three years ago today. He brought a lot of fun to our meetings and we have missed him. He spent much of his working life trading with the Soviet Union and was acutely politically conscious. We repost today one of his social reflections which feels particularly apt for these troubled times.
Dark is the shadow on my baby’s face
As I look at her in this awful place.
The soldiers broke the bedroom door
And smashed our lives; blood on the floor
Is the only carpet we have left; no, not we, but I-
For they took my man, and said they’d try
Him as a terrorist; he, who’d never raise
His voice much less his arm in anything but praise
For friends and peace. The shadow on her little cheek
Is red; she is so tiny and so weak…
I hear her feeble breath and mine begins to falter
Oh, I love her so much, my man-bloodied daughter,
And pray, with all my failing strength
That God may grant respite throughout the length
Of our poor country, and if we have to die
Let it be for freedom that we cry.
(First Published in a Hightown Writers Anthology A Book of Delights 2016)
(This post first published on 16 March 2022)
3 comments:
I have always loved this poem of Geoff's; perhaps love isn't the correct verb, but it is true, I do love it. It is written with great passion and the descriptions are vivid. It is a poem for our terrible times. Thank you Geoff
Wow that is really powerful. I regret I did not meet Geoff.
Agree with Ann! This resonates with me, because of what my relatives went through under Communism. 😥
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