The Fire Burns Bright in Heart's Sanctuary (Photo by LGS)
Poem and Picture by LGS.
Fire in the Sanctuary
Category Archives: poetry
1962 & the 49′er
The Fore-runner of Communication Satelites
Girl from Guantanamo
Some songs just seem to have a global appeal. They spread their wings and touch hearts far beyond their own country’s borders. Guantanamera is one such song. It was originally written in 1929 by Jose Fernandez Diaz and was about a beauty from Guantanamo who spurns the singer’s advances. However, it was when Julian Orbon paired the song with lyrics adapted from the first poem of the collection ” Versos Sencillos” (Simple Verses) by Cuban poet and independence hero, Jose Marti, that it rapidly rose to the status of unofficial Cuban national anthem.
Even in Malaysia, we used to learn to sing this song at schools and universities. We sang it at gatherings, at picnics and at campfire. This is a little surprising as most Malaysians don’t know any Spanish, let alone how to pronounce Spanish lyrics. We have little historical contact with Spain and almost none with Cuba. Yet most Malaysians when I was growing up knew and loved the song.
But I knew nothing about the meaning of the song or about Jose Marti until I chanced across a performance of the song by Pete Seeger on the radio. Suddenly, the song became more than just a chant beside a campfire, it really touched the soul with its search for freedom, its yearning for peace and its willingness to forgive. Few poems have moved me as much especially knowing that Jose Marti died shortly after, as a result of living true to his beliefs.
It took me a very, very long time to find a video of that same performance by Pete Seeger. Hope you enjoy his rendition and his explanation of the song as well as the words below.
I am a truthful man,
From the land of the palm trees.
Before dying, I want to
Share these poems of my soul.
My poems are soft green,
But they are also flaming crimson.
My poems are like a wounded fawn,
Seeking refuge in the forest.
I cultivate a white rose
In June and in January
For the sincere friend
Who gives me his hand.
And for the cruel one who would tear out
This heart with which I live.
I cultivate neither thistles nor nettles
I cultivate a white rose.
With the poor people of this earth,
I want to share my fate.
The little streams of the mountains
Pleases me more than the sea.
Bummed Out
Paradise Lost
Awoken by the tweet of the modern bugle blare He was ripped from the peace and nary a care
And now he’s running around like the Mad March Hare This week has come upon me like a devil wind, I’ve had to do all sorts and manner of things, Seen doctors, lawyers and I’ve bailed someone out, And even my casual work is pressing and piling up
With no beach for frolicking nor time for bumming,
That for a beach bum is completely and utterly shocking.
- Stress Causes Hare Loss
Kat and the Kamama Wonderland
I started blogging in October 2006. My goodness, has it been that long? The reason I started was that I had a friend who wanted to start up a blog but procrastinated for months and so I challenged him to a race to see who could get a blog up and running first. I won. He lost and later lost interest. I, however was hooked; especially by the wonderful new friends I was making. Now over the years, some of my good blogging friends have faded, pulled away by the demands of real life and one has even gone to a better place. I miss them all. But there are a few friends that I have had since I took those early blogging footsteps and whom I am still in happy contact today.
As early as December 2006, I stumbled upon Kat and her blog “Stay at Home Kat“. I had been looking to read a blog of someone with an interest in nature and natural history. Kat can best be described as a fan, follower and practitioner of science and a friend of all living things. She reigns over a charmed piece of woodlands near Atlanta, Georgia which she has called the wonderful kingdom of Kamama. She is my Renaissance woman poster girl. Her posts feature and showcase her love for nature. She is interested and knowledgeable in astronomy,bird watching, falconery, insects, pandas, reptiles, amphibians…..etc. Did I mention snakes? She was for many years a volunteer at the Atlanta Zoo for the Birds of Prey Show and is currently a member and supporter of the Georgia Aquarium. She’s also from the Food and Hospitality industry. Yum.
Kat has a particular passion for butterflies and plants milkweed so as to make Kamama an officially recognized way-station for Monarch Butterflies as they fly north from their wintering grounds. Occasionally, she even acts as a foster parent and protect insect cocoons until they hatch. Kat shares Kamama with two ginger cats and a dog, Taylor and many of her posts will deal with their antics and their interaction with other animal denizens of the kingdom.
During one of our earliest exchanges, Kat posted a mystery about how there was an abundance and predomination of fallen oak leaves near one side of her house when the nearest oak tree was a great distance away and immediately round her house were maple trees. She was making scientific postulations about the movement of air currents and rainfall patterns to explain the phenomena. I replied saying that as a scientist, I believed that the simplest explanation was that she had pixies in her garden. For a long while after, she doubted that I was a real scientist. I think finally she decided that I was a jester dressed in a lab coat pretending to be a scientist .
We had our friendly disagreements over discussions on evolution. We also both went through a bad spell together when we each had to fight off the bears in our back yards (kind of an insider joke, you’d have to read a lot of old posts to get to the bottom of that one). Anyway, our friendship has continued to grow and strengthen. Who would have thought it possible for a Kat and a squirrel?!?
In another meeting of fates, both of us made important life-changing decisions last year. Although happy with the decision, Kat has been adjusting to a new way of life and lately has felt a little down and lonely. So I would ask if you could drop in on Kat, Taylor and the ginger cats and the whole menagerie at Kamama and say a warm “Hello”. Visit for awhile and enrich your mind. Kat may even teach you how to “samba”. To visit just click here.
Rare Gynandromorph Diana (raised and photographed by Kat)
A Monarch wayside stop
A sanctuary for animals from all around
On this here Kamama ground
(By LGS; Sung to the tune of “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves)
Fallen Knights
Who will stand for the weak, the powerless and the downtrodden?
Who will stand against injustice but for the rights of the minorities?
And who will weep for them who gave it all for others?
These modern-day knights slained by the dragon of intolerance,
Sacrificed on the altar of bigotry and hatred.
Will you weep? Will you light a candle for them?
Will we keep the light burning bright.
For the poor, the downtrodden and the fallen knights.
(Fallen Knights by LGS)
Wasif Ali Khan Weeps for His Friend, Shahbaz Bhatti (Photo by Anjum Naveed / AP)
Two days ago, Shahbaz Bhatti, the Pakistan Government Minister for Religious Minorities, was ambushed by three gunmen as he was on his way to attend a cabinet meeting after visiting with some poor constituents. The only Christian minister in the Pakistan Cabinet, his car was stopped by the gunmen who then opened the passenger door and sprayed the interior with bullets. The Taliban has claimed responsibility.
Just a month earlier, Salmaan Taseer, the Muslim Governor of Pakistani Punjab and a co-supporter of his views, was killed by one of his own bodyguards. Sadly, Taseer’s killer, although under arrest, has been feted by many as a hero; even by some of the police. Both Bhatti and Taseer were singled out for punishment because they were pushing for a reform of Pakistan’s blasphemy law, reform in the application of Syariah law and because of their support for the release of Aasia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who is under death sentence under the Blasphemy law.
The Blasphemy Law makes it a capital offence to insult the Prophet Muhammad. Some may argue that this is against the principle of free speech but of greater concern is that Human Rights observers report that it is often invoked by one party to settle rivalries, feuds and disputes. In the case of Aasia Bibi, there was already a long standing feud between Bibi and a neighbor over some property damage. Then in June 2009, Bibi, who worked as a farm hand, was asked to fetch water for her fellow workers to drink. When she came back, some of her Muslim co-workers refused to drink claiming that being a Christian, she had made the water “unclean”. Some arguments ensue. Later a mob descended on her home and started beating her and her family. The police came to her rescue but after listening to the villagers, arrested and charged her under the Blasphemy Law. Bhatti and Taseer believed that the law had been misused to settle a score. Taseer had indicated that as Governor, he would likely pardon Bibi. Then he was assassinated.
Bhatti knew that he was a target. In fact, after Taseer’s assassination, he considered himself to be “the highest target right now”. Some of the country’s religious leaders had even publicly called for his death. He insisted on keeping to his work schedule and refused bodyguards, noting that it had done Taseer no good.
“I’m not talking about special security arrangements. We need to stand against these forces of terrorism because they’re terrorising the country. I cannot trust on security…. I believe that protection can come only from heaven, so these bodyguards can’t save you.” Bhatti said at the time.“
When informed by security officers that there was a plot to assassinate him, he did ask for a bulletproof car but strangely, he was never given one. He must have felt increasingly alone and exposed. He even made a video recording with instructions that it be sent to the BBC if he should be killed. He made a telephone call to a BBC correspondent before his death saying, ” They say there’s a terrorist plot to assassinate me. They’ve told me to be careful, but didn’t tell me anything else. I haven’t been given any extra security. It’s just the same as it has been since I became a minister. I have struggled for a long time for justice and equality. If I change my stance today, who will speak out? I am mindful that I can be assassinated any time, but I want to live in history as a courageous man.”
And so he gave his life for the cause of others. (“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13). Join me in remembering these brave men of principle and humanity, Shahbaz Bhatti and Saleem Taseer. One a Christian and another a Muslim, but both united in serving for the greater good of their community and especially for the disenfranchised and oppressed. Join me also in praying for their family and loved ones in this time of loss.
Post Script: Unfortunately, the move to reform the Blasphemy Laws seems to have been mortally wounded by Bhatti’s death. The government has reintegrated on the promise to push for reform. Without party support, member of parliament, Sherry Rehman, had to drop her reform bill and now she has had to disappeared from view due to concerns for her safety.
I Wish I could Write Like This Or……
I wish I could write like this or …………… an excuse to pinch some poems from one of my favorite poet, writer and comic, the late Spike Milligan because I am too lazy to come up with an original post.
But seriously, he is an exceptionally creative mind and here are three of my favorite poems of his;
Indian Boyhood
What happened to the boy I was? Why did he run away? And leave me old and thinking, like There’d been no yesterday? What happened then? Was I that boy? Who laughed and swam in the bund Is there no going back? No recompense? Is there nothing? No refund?
More Evidence that Cats are Evil!
A Silly Poem
Said Hamlet to Ophelia, I’ll draw a sketch of thee, What kind of pencil shall I use? 2B or not 2B?Dr. O’Dell
Dr. O’Dell, fell down the well And broke his collar bone Which only goes to prove That doctors should attend the sick And leave the well aloneNon-Poem
Squirrel in Deep Thought
It has been awhile since I wrote a poem
And I thought that I would try tonight
But I failed to get the flow going
The whole effort did not seem right
The words could not convey the image
My heart so dearly desired to share
If effort was placed on the message
Then rhythm and rhyme was bare
And when I did with effort apply my mind
To this task of poetry writing
I might have managed to make things rhyme
But only by sacrificing meaning
And so at last, I am forced to conclude
That on this night no poem is born
Please forgive me for being rude
But where the heck has my Muse gone
It’s so late now that it’s early morn
So with redden eyes, I admit defeat
There’s no point in plodding on
This squirrel needs his beauty sleep
Shooting Star
You blazed across my darkness
like a shooting star in space
And lit up all my emptiness
And filled me with your grace
Then all at once my world was light
So brilliant and amazing
The world was filled with colours bright
And with every shade and feeling.
And suddenly life overwhelmed me
With the richness of its tapestry
And things that I might have once ignored
Now are the very things that I thirst for
Like being on a long sojourn
Finding treasures at every turn
But in the presence of a blazing light
A shadow will be surely cast
An ugliness on this side of white
That had been hidden in the past
Though I now look upon darkened skies
I remember what I had seen
I had glimpsed life beyond the lies
And cannot return to what has been.
So though O star long extinguished
It is you I thank and want to say
My heart once imprisoned and languished
More freely beats in joy each day.
A Fallen Light
Taman Negara (LGS)Oh Ancient Mother, who watches over our very heart beats,
See, O see your children’s desperate plight
Our forest had grown dark, the light fails and retreats,
It seems like life itself had taken flight.
The land was bleeding earth into brown choked rivulets,
Oh Ancinet Guardian, protector of all living things
Hear, o hear your people’s despairing cries,
The land ails and fails to provide as once it did,
The water, the air poisoned with lies
Our bellys are empty and our children beyond comforting.
Oh Ancient of Ancients, who dwells in all we know,
Feel, O feel your spirits dire impotence,
As spirits of steel and smoke surround and grow
And care not for keeping the natural balance
Our familiars, our guides are silent and cold.
Oh Ancient One, our hope as in the rising morn,
From amongst us you arose a special son,
Your child, my child and our hope and light reborn
Born to stand in the gap of dreams and reason
To lead our people back from past beyond
Oh Ancient One, joy again brightened our face,
Aha! Aha! Aha! The sweet melody rings,
No longer do we sell the future of our race
To fill bellys and for forgetfulness drinks
With heads held high facing newly bright days
O Mother of Mothers, who comforts and dries tears,
Know that our hearts, briefly warmed have grown cold.
For the light flickered and fell before his years,
He bore his people’s hopes, the boy who was old,
O Mother of Mothers, comfort him and dry his tears.
