and the thunder rolls

This morning I was woken by a roll of thunder.

It was the loudest thunder I had ever heard.

It made me think of the end of the world.

The Korean situation and Al Qaeda and the agents of Satan had been much on my mind.

Yes.

The thunder sounded to me like the loudest thing I had ever heard and therefore like just the merest whisper of God.

It seemed to me he was saying: There is still time.

Still time to allow forgiveness into our hearts.

Still time to turn from evil.

Still time to rejoice in the light of God's mercy, God's light, God's beauty, God's truth and God's love.

Still time.

But the hour is getting late.

the name that is named shall be nameless etc etc

"Have you given a name to your new robin?" quoth Doctor Barn.

"I have," sez me.

"What did you call him?" wondereth Doctor Barn.

"Robin," sez me.

"Original," murmureth Doctor Barn drily.

"It's short for Robindranath Tagore," sez me with unmistakeable aplomb.

the good news

The son of the Hebrew God became a human being in order to suffer for us and save us. He was murdered but he conquered death. By his victory every single person on the planet is offered the glory of eternal life.

Oh and my cousin Helen just had a baby.

scarlet traitors

if i was trendy and stylish and drove an audi

i'd dine with scarlet traitors at sky news

and jeer at sarah palin for saying boy howdy

and intone with mock portentousness the news

of more of our soldiers dying in afghanistan and iraq

useless wars poor young chaps

i knew their fathers well

yes we've lost heavily in this last scrap

if only president bush had never unleashed hell

and if only tony blair had avoided playing his part

when the muslims unfurled their banners on the world

but bush and blair they lied from the very start

their justification for war was really quite absurd

if i say it enough perhaps it will be true

my friends in the bbc keep talking about sexed up dossiers

we make the charges stick by reciting em till we're blue

yes we all must play our part as formal nol prossers

in convincing the british people this war can't be won

our soldiers dying really breaks my heart

i shed a tear for every mother's son

and i care about the muslims too our soldiers killed

they did not deserve to be our victims

they were all peace loving children or civilians

not a terrorist among em

oh dear i think i've got chilblains

how dare president bush fight back he had no right

to retaliate across international borders

who was he to forbid saddam hussein his nukes

just who do they think they are giving muslims orders

our american friends make me want to puke

or appoint another high falutin enquiry

one or other of our enquiries will get them in the end

for we must bring bush and blair to book

for all the blood they've spilled

the pair of thumping crooks

how sad that they forced glum heroes to die for england
or whatever they've been dying for

whilst i've been busy with my glittering media career

and dining with carruthers at covent garden

and when the war is over

and our society has been subsumed into the caliphate

i'll suddenly realise i wasn't an atheist or a communist all along

and convert to the peace loving religion of islam

it's more realistic than other religions at any rate

and it makes things simpler not to have to think for oneself

i will die peaceful having righted every wrong

oh who will buy my lovely country

it's going for a song

the first prayer

I wondered when I would start praying to my mother as a saint in heaven.

Then this week during a quiet moment, without even really realising what I was doing, I found myself murmuring: "Mam, keep an eye on Helen while she's having her baby."

the lifting of the veil

 between this world and the next