John,

I want to remark primarily on one line in this poem -

"I do not envy the Chinese soldiers: thousands of miles from home and hungry".

At the core of this is empathy, that ability to see the one in the other, even if it is your enemy or oppressor. You expand on this elegantly in the final stanza.

Thank you for both reviving the Tibetan struggle for those of us who have filed it away, like disturbing images of self-immolation too tragic to gaze upon, and for the message remarked upon above.

D

Comment is about Lotus flower (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Thank you kindly Adam. Shalom aleichem. Your words help me to continue to continue

To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour.

William Blake

Comment is about Lotus flower (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

In an amazingly moving piece you include this line

The sun sets and we carry on the fight, in our dreams, in our love-making, in our Tibetan children.

and I am reeling with the power of your words. Resistance does not end with sleep with love with parenting but is wrapped up in those and in every breath taken.

All struggles are all our struggles.

In solidarity and in admiration

Adam

Comment is about Lotus flower (blog)

Original item by John E Marks