Can we call it freedom if it divides?
Is it correct to ridicule revered name?
Was that in defence of freedom?
Or was that for easy money and fame?

They went on with their provocations;
And justified it with arguments lame.
Numerous hearts were agonised.
But few turned wild, difficult to tame.

Extreme provocations and insults.
In the name of ' Freedom of speech'
Extreme response and harshest reply.
To avenge the insult and to teach.

When one's ' Freedom of Expression ';
Gives one the ' Freedom to insult '.
Hatred and dissension are promoted;
And can lead to horrifying result.

The many voices of the evening

                   gramophone the sky voice the cell phone
                   the tablet  the notebook, that monotone
                   observer of mutations purveyor of maladies
                   the persistence of memories, pale pink light sink

burning in the fires lighting up the skies

                   an old pang, smitten clang, the pain balm
                   mug-life, pen-knife, kettle-strife, all the sheaves
                   them echo-songs that haunt the drill-wells
                   that are cut wounded and wear fetching

chants, to an yearning oblation

                  bay leaf, curry leaf, yes, them colander coriander
                  there's a rhyme of charlies, looping from
                  our holy wars to now our holy hours with
                  the ombudsman, the omniman, the only God

who used to thunder for the ****

                 old Zeus, the Lord of Betelgeuse, him who we
                 called dead, exhumation, exculpation, exaltation
                 an ancient loneliness that calls from the nether
                 depths, now science, now freedom, now pagan.

In a city full of beauty, in a country full of life and a culture full of art and love - strangers have set foot upon the land - where poetry thrives, artists dream and music is composed.
They are burning the books and bringing the flames of hell upon the people...
They are covering the beauty so no one can see it and be tempted to take it away...
Children are shaking, the windows are breaking and the thunder is being silenced once again.
When will it end?
This hatred that is spreading like a cancer?
When will it end?
These questions which have no answers?
When will it end?
For the artist, the lovers and the romancers?
quand cela se arrêtera?
quand allez adorer revenir à la maison et dépasser la haine ?

Forgive the sins of those we would condemn?
Apologise and send them on their way
And in the aftermath of our dismay
Seek not for retribution on these men?

Cast down our stones, cast off our thoughts of when
They stained the walls in vengeance on a day
Now fast enshrined in minds of those who pray,
Pretend the world is just as it was then

Before these wretched shadows had the ken
To shatter glass and unmold living clay,
Think not of how their evil to repay
But offer them a prayer and say "Amen"?

Dear lord, our strength of will is plainly weak
For we can't simply turn the other cheek.

The City of Lights
liberty's burning flame
black terror assailed
to despoil her aims

A lamp to the world
illumes liberated pathways
its Arc de Triomphe heart
scarlet droplets stain

the secular graces
of enlightened ages
defiled and condemned
by fanatical excess

civilizations clash
social fabrics torn
Muslims denigrated
republicans mourn

the death of tolerance
spiraling spike of hate
a fractured city
the closure of gates

dark shadows trundle
down The Champs-Elysees
the fraternity of brotherhood
deeply wounded and frayed

republican ideals
will be surely tested
Charlie Hebdo's critical voice
sorely missed, forever rested

Music Selection:
La Marseillaise

Oakland
1/7/15

They pulled out his eyes, because he had seen
too much.

They blew out his brains, he must have
known too much.

Blind and braindead was their thought
now it was reality.

And they cut off his tongue
for he had said too much.
When you think, not know, you act as if
the difference fades, the first will go, let that sink.

We were tested today, is word allowed

to speak in utterances, scream aloud

our freedoms, our ability to breathe

in energy evils presently seethe.

Remember as a child when first we learned

civic responsibilities, speech earned.

Tomorrow, next week, again, we honor

human lives. We must destroy dishonor.

‘War’ donned my Stop signs across the city

we wanted to speak out loud our pity.

In order to be heard we took a chance

some laughed, calling it spoken elegance.

12 dead, more wounded, violent release

the freedom of words, belittled, sweet peace

The killers deserve no name

let's forget about them,

let's not talk about them,

any more,

let's find them and forget about them.

forget about them, they don't exist.

~

Let's remember the writers,

the people with lives,

with families,

with beauty and grace and elegance

in their minds that allowed them to speak

freely, freedom, free-thinking

ideals that helped us to laugh through the pain

of our sick, evil society.

~

Let's remember Charlie Hebdo,

their ability to help us to laugh at the

ludicrous, ignorant pain of the human condition,

did not deserve,

to end with a bullet,

a massacre,

a cowardly outrage.

Let's remember the writers,

the human beings whose lives represent

the fear, that we simply have to continue to ignore.

In case you all forget, let's remember the

real victims.

The crooked stripe across your shirt
Matches the frown that shows your hurt.
But the yellow brightly shines above.
Your slight, thin smile makes all feel love.