I read a book review today
Oh boy...
And now I know what it's like to
live A Day in the Life
The review was of Bloodlands, which apparently recounts the effect of Stalin's enforced famine in the Ukraine. I don't know because I didn't finish the article. I could not get past a quote from the book...and I might spend my whole life trying and not ever be able to finish the article, let alone pick up the book. The review (
"Stalin, Cannibalism, and the true nature of evil" Ron Rosenbaum, Slate.com) recounts the horrific choice of some to turn to cannibalism, even eating their children.
In Kharkov, they were human, though,
and gathered the children together,
Orphans, orphaned to guard against
a crueler loss of parental affection
But hunger does not abide walls
and when the nurses turned their backs
it crawled into the bellies of their wards
and they fell silent, fell to eating
Fell. We Fall
the pernicious nature of original sin is not
that it is passed on to our children but that
we put our children in such straits that
it is easier to choose the evil for immediate gain
Petrus! Your blood cries out to me
and all I can see when I close my eyes is
the trusting gaze of my son, Samuel,
trusting that I will let no harm come
wounded when it does
Not my will but why?
Gazing with loving trust as
he endures the ripping
and pours his whole existence into
believing that it will be ok, just take a bite
Or, I wonder if he offered
having heard Christ's saving words:
"Take, this is my body"
Petrus...with this stone I am
a crumbling edifice
Lord Have Mercy!
Lord Have Mercy!
Lord Have Mercy!
Hospody Pomiluj!
There isn't enough breath in Eternity
to repent
but it is vanity to waste my life on any
other endeavors
Hunger is a moral problem
