Paris

Written on the Moment’s Spur at Cheltenham General Hospital and inspired by the Portrait ~ November 28, 2015 following the first Paris Attacks

The Paris Attacks are also covered in Liverpool Dispatch 79, Liverpool Dispatch 80 and in the poem Ville de Paris - Défi au djihad

Yes

I lost two friends

dear friends, in fact

We were at a concert

we heard firecrackers, we thought

and then...

the music came to a guttural stop

on the end of a rat a tat tat

of a vulgar gun

spitting out death and destruction

injury

trauma

life changing moments for someone

for as I ran for cover I tripped over

a severed ankle

No

I will not give in

WE will not give in

If they think that lunacy disguised

as religion will win me over

then they clearly have no concept

of the freedoms which are my birthright

freedoms that have not been easily won

Another fanatic, equally evil

tried that to my grandparents' generation

They gave no quarter

We gave no quarter in return

but went about it in a different way

and brought peace and prosperity

where before satan himself

roamed the streets and boulevards

of Paris

and the Strassas and the Unter Den Linden

of Berlin

But that is in the past

And yet it has shaped us now

How can we possibly give in to a terror

so evil,

that beheadings are daily,

crucifixions are commonplace for christians,

where five year old children are cut in half

in front of their parents,

where fathers and sons are dragged off a bus

where grandmothers are pulled off by the hair,

and they think that this despicable behaviour

will cause us to buckle?

They have no concept of who they deal with

They have no concept of what awaits them

They believe in seventy vestal virgins

What does that tell me about my place in their

warped and twisted minds?

What does that tell me about the place of

women and girls

in their depraved and mysogynistic minds?

Four lawyers are summarily executed

just because they are women

What does that tell me about their total

abhorrence

their stench

the foulness of their breath

their cowardice

their misogyny

Yes

I will always remember my friends

No I will never descend to the depths of depraved minds

and wish upon them

that which they do to people who

will not accept their warped, twisted, criminal

and evil ideology

Negotiate with them?

Of course not

Their crimes are against humanity

They have stepped beyond the pale

and thus they must suffer the consequence

of their actions

Destruction

It's really good talking with you

and I appreciate the time you've taken to listen to me

But can I ask you a question?

Of course

What on earth does it say of a politician

who, briefed at the highest level

of the absolute terror this evil inflicts and wages

upon innocent people,

nevertheless, writes a letter to say

he will not support air strikes

and attempts to take the ground from beneath

your prime minister's feet?

Is that man real?

Does he have have any connection

with reality?

Is he so lost up in his own idealism

and dreams of utopia?

For me and my people

it is an affront

And, I suspect, to the greater number

of your people too

I hope so

I hope too that his resignation

will not be too long

For then my friends will not have died in vain

For that is how it feels,

and I'm glad my President

has appealed directly to all of you across the Water

And that, I know, is unprecedented

but necessary

Stand with us please

We need you

Kenneth Thomas Webb
Liverpool

November 8, 2021
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Das Vereinigtes Königreich

United Kingdom - Austria - Germany - Australia - New Zealand - Canada - USA

© Kenneth Thomas Webb 2021

One of the Fifteen Founding Members of Leaders Lodge

Written on the Moment’s Spur at Cheltenham General Hospital and inspired by the Portrait ~ November 28, 2015 following the first Paris Attacks

Image Courtesy of Cheltenham General Hospital where this is on display to the public and with all rights reserved to the artist