Three hundred eyes for an eye,
Three hundred teeth for a tooth.
Why?
Where is the truth?
The wise and ancient retaliation law
Couldn’t just stand;
For,
Planned or unplanned,
One way or the other it moved.
The Messiah came with the challenge –
No eye for an eye,
No tooth for a tooth,
Leading to Peace and reconciliation.
Do cry,
But, together, face the truth.
Not easy.
But now the three hundred eyes and teeth
Fly in the face of humanity:
One mother is not more a mother than another,
One father is not more a father….
One child is not more a child ….
One sister, one brother …..
How can ‘leaders’ be so blind?
What has become of our common humankind?
Wirral born (1940!) and bred. Catholic missionary, ordained 1965. Uganda 65-68; Paris 68-71; Kenya 71-73; The Netherlands 73-78;Paris 78-79; Zaïre/DRC 1980----; Interested in poetry since the 1950's. (Title to fame: Clare Kirwan's uncle!)
