AWKWARD DANCE OF PEACE

My thoughts are in Derry/Londonderry this afternoon, for the funeral of Martin McGuinness.  For those surprised at that, I am surprised too, BUT peacemaking which I am absolutely committed to, as a call from Jesus to do so and as an attempt to give my children a better future, leads you into strange and often difficult relationships and indeed friendships.

AWKWARD DANCE OF PEACE

Between the bloody dark

And grace’s redeeming light

Between the hate riled gloom 

And the rays of forgiveness, bright

Friendships can be messy.

 

Between the blowing up

And the pieces fixed on landing

Between the bleak black funerals

And the bridegroom standing

Friendships can be messy.

 

This is an awkward dance

With partners disconcerting

The tender tentative steps

With all our wounds still hurting

Take two up and one back

Move close to hold the seams

Swirl in the suspicious space

To soar in audacious dreams.

Comments

[Ken Newell]

Thanks, Steve. Love your piece. A friend of many years who was a prominent leader in Loyalist Paramilitary circles phoned me this morning to say that he watched Martin's funeral in Derry yesterday unfold with civic, political, Christian Church leaders and diplomats joining the tens of thousands at the Long Tower Church. 'An act of serious decommissioning took place in Derry yesterday', he said. 'The political, religious and cultural weapons that have dominated our minds and hearts for centuries were visibly destroyed in the warmth, generosity and inclusiveness of the occasion. Now is the time to bond together, rise above the divisions that have marred our diversity and push for a future together that has space for us all to form deep and lasting friendships that can transform our country.' My loyalist friend put into words my own scrambled thoughts of have been caught up in it all yesterday in the company of Dr John Dunlop. Your all-too-true poem made me want to share the experience with you. Shalom, Ken