Poems From Prague

***************************** Poems written on a trip to Prague in 2009 ***************************** ============================= Sailing Neath the Charles Bridge ============================= Such history flows beneath this bridge And all that have walked on it So many pass its statues walk And think so little of it. Germans, Russians and the Slav Have at times been masters here And yet none was ever master So from history it does appear An Irishman beneath it sails As slowly the Vlatava flows And everyone goes about their lives And no one of me knows And a poem that I have written As many have done before And indeed in years to come So will many more. So I dance on the wild waters Neath the Charles bridge in a boat And others in a day to come Of it will read the words on it I wrote... ============================= Merchants at the Pinkas Synagogue ============================= They sell their wares on open stands Trinkets, postcards, and stuff They are everywhere that I can see The senses it does rebuff This place is sacred is it not? Where the story is told Of mans inhumanity to man Not a venue to trade for gold? I feel I think like Jesus did Of those merchants which I passed And wished I could do as He And from the synagogue them to have cast You cannot take pictures inside at all And so others cannot see The scale, the beauty and the horror Of those names in front of me Or the pictures of those children Hanging today on a wall To see the blind and fain hopes of returning home they held When they had no hope at all. But a photo can be taken in the courtyard But not for free by you But for €40 or so It seems surreal, I ask is it true It tells the story of the holocaust But its memory it does smear By selling of trinkets on the strength of spilled blood To the visitor it does appear That money is indeed the God And they will be content With every misery they endure If from its memory they can turn a cent. In cynical mood I write these words I feel about stands at Knock the same They do not belong there where they are That they are is a shame. Cast the merchants from the Temples Hold whats sacred as sacred inside Have a love in your heart for the Lord your God And in your heart Compassion, Remembrance, and Pride!