What is Life?

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Author Note

This poem was inspired while listening to this extended version of John Murphy’s Sunshine (Adagio in D Minor) super extended version 

an hour ago,

in this link …

This poem was written on 6 September 2015 in Gloucestershire and is dedicated to Frau Rita Schneeweiß in traversing the heights and depths, in conquering all, as we prepare to rebuild bridges where bridges have fallen or been knocked down, and building bridges where none before existed. And we step forward, confident, a spring in our step, for we have overcome, and will overcome, all!

… And do that which, at life’s end,
we can say with grace and humility
We did what we were expected to do!
We lived, we loved, we set an example
and we have that unspoken faith and confidence
that we recall from
lon distant schooldays
*
And this is the confidence that we have in Him
That we do according to His will
And if we know that we do his will
then we know that we have the confidence
that he has reposed in us
as it is written [i]

Und das ist die Freudigkeit, die wir haben zu ihm,
daß, so wir etwas bitten nach seinem Willen,
so hört er uns.
Und so wir wissen, daß er uns hört,
was wir bitten, so wissen wir,
daß wir die Bitte haben,
die wir von ihm gebeten haben. [ii]

WHAT is Life?

It is the beauty of freedom

It is the awareness of our source

It is the realisation that regardless

of religion and ideology,

we do have a source …

The Source

Life beyond our imagination

A cycle of seasons never ending

A realisation that whatever sacred

text we read,

whatever its source,

It is but a poor substitute

to the witnessing of The Spirit

to our spirit

The awakening of our soul …

Everlasting

Indestructible

LIFE is in our love for each other

In every aspect of Creation

Love for the utter incredulity 

and magnificence of the Multiverse

The Heavens stretched out way above

and before us,

and even deep into the Oceans

where darkness abides,

but not the darkness of evil,

the darkness of light ordinarily impenetrable

but which is now opening up to us

even subterranean oceans,

beholding species we never knew existed,

bringing to us ever greater evidence

of some Superior Intelligence

of which our own is a very poor reflection

in a mirror

but nevertheless true

LIFE is in the act of forgiveness

LIFE is in stretching out the hand of friendship

LIFE is in not walking by on the other side

LIFE is in assisting in whatever way we can

those who have by misfortune

suffered war, insurrection and famine,

suffered the most horrific wars

suffered the most horrific acts of barbarism

suffered the horror of terrorism

suffered evil by deluded hands who

scream that it is the victim who is evil

LIFE determines to “rid the world 

of this brute oppression, tyranny and fear” [iii]

… Yes, such evil as has ever 

corrupted the human breast.” [iv]

LIFE is in the beauty of the day

The Sunrise

The Sunset

The Rolling Oceans

The Plains and Mountain Ranges

LIFE is in The Spirit

moving across the deserted places

laid waste by twisted minds

LIFE is in the mobilisation of Forces

to defend Freedom

to fight for what we have and love

to resist the horror of perverted

religious or political ideology,

and those who seek to propagate such hatred

AND having done so,

to be magnaminous in victory

to learn from our past mistakes

to rebuild civilisation on the basis of

Freedom for all

Freedom from slavery

Freedom from child abuse

Freedom from sexual abuse

Freedom from female genital mutilation

Freedom from misogyny

Freedom of education for all

regardless of gender

Freedom regardless of sexuality

Freedom to love

Freedom to speak

Freedom to hold each other

Freedom to accept all Genders

Freedom to LIVE

This freedom is innate within every being

It stands out in sacred texts

It stands within the hearts of those

who seek no need for theism

Just as GOD stands outside ‘time’

Where do we find God?

However we perceive this 

Intelligence?

From within out hearts

I do not see as man sees

I look upon the heart

Not upon the outward appearance

HERE IS LIFE!

Life is in Theism and Atheism

It is subordinate writing

that seeks to emulate that famous line

I will be like the Most High

I will ascend above the very stars of heaven

But that is man writing

with humankind’s perception

Freedom is to stand true

and to stand firm

Firm, when all around us are down

we remain standing and still stand [iii]

And Freedom grants us the 

ability and desire 

to converse

to negotiate

to seek the common good

to live and let live

to love and let love

to banish dark entities

to make it clear that freedom

has a price tag

A line beyond which freedom will not permit

humankind to transgress

A Red Line

Such transgression is too awful to contemplate

for as it is written,

It is a terrible thing

to fall into the Hands

of the Living GOD

Selah

Let us, therefore, step forward

with Faith

with Hope

with Determination

with Confidence

With Forbearance

With Perseverance

With Patience

With LOVE

26 August 2022
All Rights Reserved

© Kenneth Thomas Webb 2022

Written on 6 September 2015, in Gloucestershire although my home was still in Liverpool

Afterword

This poem was inspired while listening to John Murphy’s extended version of Sunshine (Adagio in D Minor) super extended version an hour ago, which can be found on the link below.  

[i] these are the words I learned at primary school and I have always presumed that they were from the Authorised Version, and seem very loosely to dovetail or reflect 1 John 5: 14-15 KJV and NKJV (the author)
[ii] 1Johannes 5: 14-15 Lutheran Bibel
[iii] Speech by Winston Churchill 1940 following the Fall of France
[iv] ibid