Weren’t you lucky, up to time of your blood thirsty war,
Russian sports, especially gymnasts and ballet at the fore,
Gave your presidency of Russia somewhat of a credit,
Hopefully with Western sanctions you’ll swim in debit
And, as for the Patriarch of your Russian Orthodox Church
Strange bedfellows you are, so odd,
You Putin, and your puppet Patriarch, will one day face God.
On a chain - I wear a cross.
Around my neck I do.
I don’t wear it to say, “I Am”.
I don’t wear it for you.
For me - it’s now a symbol of compassion and humility
and the world’s need for love.
It's a cry for a peaceful existence
just like the symbol of the dove.
When I was young - I often went to church.
It was a place my parents brought me to.
For I was baptized Greek Orthodox
therefore - an expectation of what I must do.
There - many things made sense to me.
Now some did not, and don’t.
But I learned to not be bothered
by inaccuracies and the unexplained – I said I won’t.
In my later years - I searched, felt, and realized the mystical
in the one God I believe exists.
And in the plants, the animals, and of course humans too
I discovered a spirituality that subsists.
My beliefs - might now be complex.
Some might say they do not fit a norm.
As I read about other religions and the spiritual world
I ultimately went through a reform.
Today - I occasionally go to my Orthodox Church
to pray in a place of sanctuary, where they say God does reside.
To fulfill a never ending need to learn and understand
and to still a rather busy mind.
To excel as a human being, the lives of others, one should first consider!*
© Demetrios Trifiatis
17 April 2016
*The leaders of the eastern and western churches were on Lesbos, Greece, yesterday for to show solidarity with asylum seekers.
The pope was joined by the ecumenical patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church Bartholomew I and Archbishop of Athens Ieronymos II.
The religious leaders visited migrants in the camp, Moria. The Pope thanked the Greek people for having welcomed more than a million migrants last year, in spite the economic hardships the Greeks face. Migrants held signs saying "We are Humans"
Death on Highway 12
For James Gilman, c. 1970
“Among your saints give rest, O Christ,
To the souls of your servants
In a place where there is no pain or sorrow or grief
But only life everlasting.
May his memory be eternal.”
Memorial Hymn of the Greek Orthodox Church
In the white bed
Between the lanes
Wrapped in a black overcoat
A boy lies dead.
In Christmas thoughts
Hurrying across the lanes
A hiss of air
A muffled noise
Some metal distorted
A thud
A fall
A last breath.
The lights on the Christmas tree
Dimmer tonight.
A life
A Dream
All memories to cling to dearly.
This story is told by the howling wind
And smudges on the snow
My heart is made of sorrow.
Amen.
Blessed by Russia's orthodox church
a new radar system's rehearsed
they won't be left long in the lurch
unless Mother Russia is cursed?
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