No retreat, no surrender
people from across the world
now share my home:
Huguenots and Flemish weavers remembered in the names of pubs,
the Irish fleeing famine: the O'Donnells and the O'Neills,
Ashkenazi Jews escaping the Czarist pogroms: the Cohens and the Rabinowitz.
Later came the Afro-Carribeans, the Patels from the Punjab, India and Pakistan,
Hindus and Chinese opened restaurants: look at Chinatown, walk the curry mile.
the open Gurdwaras
welcome all.
Now we're faced with a black, black wall
the world has brought us
the nuts and bolts of terror:
the slaughter of the innocent
an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety
challenges us.
Manchester remains: a Standard Bearer
of tolerance and respect
while others seek protection from the miasama -
the black death - of liberty and free speech.
"This evil will not break our spirit nor drive us apart.
There will be no war of each against each, on my part".
These smoky terraces have leached away many broken hearts:
hearts broken in the mud of Passchendaele or in the sands of the Western Desert
O! God! teach these Jihadis that the promise of a heaven is just a decoy,
a lie bought by the broken bodies of girls and boys,
the blackest lie, of the blackest of arts.
(written May, 2017)
?si=yzI0fsyDGgss034N
M.C. Newberry
Sat 18th Nov 2023 11:31
Those who bring cruel death
To their unsuspecting hosts
Give up their right to breath.
Let these ghouls depart as ghosts!