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because we have a song

you ask me to believe
i'm left wondering
about the colour yellow

are women meant to be hidden
behind burqas of black,
or a bluebird's blue?
to disappear
into daylight;
is it for God or the lusts
of men? are not women jewels wherever
we are and whatever we wear?

tell me, is Christianity American
and Judaism Israeli and how did
the two get so entwined in Joseph's coat
of many colours? when was there a time
when Jerusalem was built to be divided?

there is a well, Miriam, i'll meet you here,
we'll capture the morning sunrise and embrace
the painted desert with the rhythm of our hearts,
our fingertips will glide along the wheat fields of our
longing, our
hair will come undone, we'll love the God of creation
and we'll make love with his sons

in an oasis of grass, the yellow bird sings not because
it has an answer, but because it has a song.

Review Request (Intensity): 
I want the raw truth, feel free to knock me on my back
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Comments

Always fascinated to see how any poet entwines religion into poems and keeps me interested especially when the control of christian faith is to show the weakness of the flesh and human spirit as the only ones rewarded with the kingdom of heaven, this is my warped view so don't mind me lol..the poem itself is strong.

Chez
"The perfect woman perpetrates literature as she does a small sin: as an experiment, in passing, to see if anybody notices it - and to makes sure that somebody does." - Nietzsche

The colors and messages that were evoked! Punctuation niggle... Start the new sentence " there is a well Miriam " with a capital 'T'.
Very strong metaphor here a) - the name can be drawn from either Islam or Judaism, and of course b) the imagery of what can be 'drawn from the well!'
Interesting take too, from the perspective of a practicing Buddist....
Good write Anna!
Boni

Bonitaj

Thanks all for reading, it was written for my friend who is an Iranian American, and recently returned from her Hajj. It's amazing how mistaken we are about Muslim beliefs and practices and how it seems that the Abrahamic religions have so much *materialism and militarisim* in its extremism.

I do not *practice* any religion though my background as a woman and a poet is to see the truth that unites all the religions, not the dogma that separates its *beLIEvers*.

Metta,

author comment

The little bird, not yet identified by me, that I heard in the woods the other end of Maridal lake, said it all in his descending song, starting high he sang the same sound getting lower this is what I first sing to this poem. It is a form of sigh, at the human-ness of humans and yet the animal-ness of humans; we are so hung up, entangled in our own ideas...I shall repeat my comment to Stan:-

I have no isms, no creeds to follow, I am of the human race that exists on this planet, all of the same roots, in fact the same as the flowers. We humans make up ideas and philosophies and follow our own decrees as if they were given, proved, real, or somehow basic, but they are only in the imagination of the man who thought them up.

True this has caused the growth of understanding in a twisted, biased manner perhaps, but also a great deal of art and culture has arisen from man's mind. We tend to look upon this culture as something wonderful and give its name powers that it didn't have originally; using it to 'lord it' some over other less cultivated souls.

And all the while, the birds and beasts go about their business of living, they have no creeds, they are the same origin as we are. What are we all creating?

But apart for the problems the poem I liked you gave us the picture, although America Christian, or Jewish all exist everywhere, we are all mixed up in the pot pourri of each country all with strains of the other, we shall have to come to some decision to allow those who think one thing, think as they will, no one can abolish such well established myths of life now, at least I don't think so. If we did there would only blossom up new ones and they might not be better, who knows? The greatest religion in the world appears to be MONEY.

I must stop, and send love Ann

"The image of yourself which you see in a mirror Is dead,
but the reflection of the moon on water, lives." Kenzan.

Indeed.

All we have is our thoughts and our life. Change our thoughts, change our lives, realize who it is that thinks.....and our lives take on a new meaning.

Hug,

~A

author comment

the end lines are breathtaking...

here is a well, Miriam, i'll meet you there,
we'll capture the morning sunrise and embrace
the painted desert with the rhythm of our hearts,
our fingertips will glide along the wheat fields of our
longing, our
hair will come undone, we'll love the God of creation
and we'll make love with his sons

in an oasis of grass, the yellow bird sings not because
it has an answer, but because it has a song.

raj (sublime_ocean)

I am grateful Raj, I love it when the pen flows. Thank you the first line in the second last stanza is now what I had intended.

~A

author comment

yes...it fits in so well and makes it very lively indeed...thanks for sharing ...

raj (sublime_ocean)

Anna, i am with Ann. I have and don't want religion in my life, i will always be respectful though angry of an others faith in such a belief. Respectful because if i can choose to live as i am, then so must others, angry because i see the destruction religion brings in it's entirety. But all religious leaders claim their way to be peaceful, then why do they call some wars religious. Gods and religion is where man dumps his conscience i believe. Your poem is beautiful as always, one question i wonder could be asked. If a christian or muslim male, and a christian or muslim female met as the last surviving beings on our planet. Would religion keep them apart. Love Roscoe..

Roscoe Llane,

Religion will rip your faith off, and return
for the mask of disbelief that's left.

Love is the unifying factor. As in Romeo and Juliet, that story has been replayed and replayed throughout history...Northern soldier and Southern Belle. Palestinian and Jew. American soldier and Saudi princess.... Christian poet and Advaita poet (Barry & I).

Would the last man and woman want to perpetuate their religion or repopulate the world? Who knows?
Thank you for asking the question.

~A

author comment
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